


The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

by Staldak



Series: The Unknown [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure, Book 1: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Fanfiction, Gen, Magic, Mystery, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:15:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 52,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29619753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Staldak/pseuds/Staldak
Summary: Jason Fortescue is the son of two famous Quidditch players. Living in his parent's shadow, Jason has spent most of his life alone, but that all began to change when he started to attend Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Meeting the famous Harry Potter, and making other friends, Jason's world begins to change, but with the approach of dark wizards and other threats how will he survive the unknown. And what secrets of his own will be revealed?I do not own any of Harry Potter's characters or stories. They belong to their rightful owners.This is a story I originally posted on Wattpad, but as I am now transferring to Archive Of Our Own I am posting it all here.
Series: The Unknown [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2176251
Kudos: 1





	1. The Day of Anticipation

A loud crash of thunder pierces through the silent night causing a young boy to jolt out of bed. The boy curiously looks out the window but is surprised to see that there is no storm that night. Looking around the quiet room the boy's eyes fell to the clock beside his bed. Only 3:20 am, he thought to himself, couldn't the morning just hurry up and come already. He lowered his head back onto his pillow and pulled the covers close around him, returning to restless sleep.

"Jason wake up!" a voice cut through the boy's sleep, waking him suddenly. Upon opening his eyes Jason was greeted by the kind smile of his grandfather, Richard. Grandpa Richard had a smile that could brighten up an entire room. The old man in his 70s was on the shorter side with brilliant green eyes and grey hair which had mostly fallen out with age, leaving him bald except for a thin band reaching around the sides of his head.

"Mornin Grandpa," Jason said as he slowly roused himself from his slumber.

"'Mornin' yourself we have to get going or we'll miss our train," his grandfather responded with a chuckle. At the train's mention, Jason remembered his excitement from the night before. Today was the day, he and his grandfather would travel to Diagon Alley to purchase the supplies he would need for his first year at Hogwarts.

"Give me a few minutes, I'll be right down." He said jumping out of bed and rushing towards his closet to get dressed.

"Breakfast is already on the table" Grandpa Richard replied as he made his way out of the room. Jason quickly changed out of his sleep clothes and into a pair of blue jeans with a plain orange t-shirt, pulling a pair of socks onto his feet before shoving them into his black tennis shoes that were waiting at the foot of his bed. Before leaving the room, Jason paused to look in the mirror hanging on the wall behind his bedroom door. He looked into his light brown eyes, before moving his attention to patting down the areas of his short black hair that were sticking up. He was a little taller than the average eleven-year-old boy, with slightly tan skin, a protruding chin, and a small scar running horizontally along his left cheek.

When Jason was done checking himself in the mirror, he made his way downstairs and sat down at the kitchen table for breakfast. Grandpa Richard had made his favorite: scrambled eggs with bacon and a slice of toast with grape jelly spread on it. While scarfing down his breakfast, he thought back to the day a few weeks ago when he received his Hogwarts letter.

It was a hot day and Jason had been sitting on the roof of his family's large three-story house trying to cool off. In the distance, Jason noticed an owl flying straight for the roof where he was sitting. As the owl got closer, he noticed it was a medium-sized brown owl clutching a letter in its beak. The owl flew directly over Jason's head, dropping the letter into his lap. Upon inspecting the letter, Jason saw that it was addressed to him, and when he flipped it over, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the Hogwarts crest. With shaking hands Jason opened the letter and read :

Dear Mr. Fortescue,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The subsequent weeks were a blur. All Jason could remember was convincing his parents to let Grandpa Richard be the one to take him to Diagon Alley to purchase his school supplies and the jealous looks of his younger sister whenever she heard him talking about his preparations for attending Hogwarts. Finally, the day had come. He quickly finished scarfing down the rest of his breakfast and looked over at Grandpa Richard in anticipation.

"Alright, Alright," Grandpa Richard said once he noted Jason's stare, "Go brush your teeth, and then we can head to the train station." With a wide smile on his face, Jason rushed to the upstairs bathroom to brush his teeth and a few minutes later he and Grandpa Richard were out the door on their way to the train station.


	2. A Shopping Trip

It was around noon when Jason and Grandpa Richard arrived at Charing Cross Road in London. As the two of them walked down the street, they approached a rundown building nozzled in between a bookshop and a record store. When they approached the entrance to the building, the black sign hanging above the door slowly faded, revealing a picture of a stylized bronze cauldron with several leaks in it and etched onto the side of the cauldron were the words "Leaky Cauldron." The Leaky Cauldron Pub and Inn appeared less rundown on the inside as opposed to the outside, but that was hard to determine from the dim lighting. All that could be seen were several wooden tables, an old bar, and stairs leading up to the guest rooms. Passing through the door into the pub, Jason began to smile. He always enjoyed passing through the Leaky Cauldron on his many previous trips to Diagon Alley due to the wide assortment of people and the hospitality of the pub's owner, Tom.

Looking around, Jason and Grandpa Richard both felt that the usual relaxed and subdued atmosphere of the pub had been replaced with one of excitement. Instead of staying to themselves, as the customers of the Leaky Cauldron usually did, the room was abuzz as people moved between tables, chatting fervently. After a quick scan of the room, they noticed Tom standing behind the bar and quickly approached the old, bald man.

"Hey Tom," Grandpa Richard began, "what's with all the noise in here today?"

"You'll never believe it" Tom excitedly replied, "If I hadn't seen it myself then even I wouldn't believe it, So this morning I was-"

"What happened?" Grandpa Richard cut Tom off before he had the chance to begin one of his lengthy tangents.

"Harry Potter! Harry Potter just passed through here on his way to Diagon Alley!"

" Well, seeing him is pretty exciting, but I wouldn't say it's unbelievable." Grandpa Richard stated casually, "I mean he is old enough to start attending Hogwarts, so of course, he'd be coming here to get to Diagon Alley." Tom's smile slowly disappeared from his face, leaving him staring blankly at Grandpa Richard.

"You always did have a way of killing all the excitement in a room," Tom stated while staring Grandpa Richard dead in the eyes. For a moment, the tension between the two of them was palpable before two lifelong friends burst into laughter. "So, what are you doing here?" Tom questioned his old friend as he turned to start drying some freshly washed mugs.

"Well, I'm taking my grandson to do his Hogwarts shopping," Grandpa Richard responded, leaving Tom to take a quick look around the room before he noticed Jason standing right next to Richard.

"I'm sorry Jason, I didn't notice you there," Tom said, turning his attention to Jason "It looks like I have another celebrity in the bar today."

"Please, I'm not a celebrity," Jason said, trying to cover the annoyance in his voice at being called a celebrity.

"Of course, you are. Your parents are both famous quidditch stars, and from what I hear, your team took the top spot in the country in the junior quidditch leagues. If you're not a celebrity, then I'm not a bartender."

"I'm sorry, Tom, but we should get into Diagon Alley and start shopping," Grandpa Richard interrupted, knowing that Jason was probably getting aggravated with the topic of conversation, "I'll see you later."

The two of them said goodbye to Tom and then headed out the pub's backdoor and into a small stone courtyard filled with empty barrels with a brick wall opposite the door from the pub. Grandpa Richard quickly approached the brick wall and slid his wand out from its hiding place in the waistband of his shorts. Examining the wall, Grandpa Richard tapped his wand against a brick three times, causing the bricks in the wall to move out of the way and thus reveal the entrance to Diagon Alley.

The alley was just as busy as Jason remembered, with hundreds of people rushing every which way as they traveled between the various shops. As they began walking down the alley, Jason noticed that the alley was overfilled with kids his age and realized that like him, they must have all been there doing their Hogwarts shopping.

"You have your vault key on you, right?" Grandpa, Richard asked.

"Yeah, I have it right here," Jason responded, pulling a small key from his left pant pocket.

"Take the money you have on you and go get fitted for your robes, I'll go to Gringotts and get what we'll need for the rest of the supplies." Seeing the reason in splitting up, and relieved not to have to go into Gringotts because the Goblins scared him a little, Jason agreed to the plan and handed over his vault key. The two of them decided to meet outside of Flourish & Blotts later to pick up Jason's school books.

After parting with Grandpa Richard, Jason quickly made his way through the crowded alley to Madam Malkin's to get his school robes. When he first entered the store, the first thing he noticed was the sound of Madam Malkin's self-playing harp. Jason walked through the room, which was filled with robes of all shapes, colors, and sizes, and up to the squat old woman, who was covered head to toe in lavender and asked her for Hogwarts robes. Madam Malkin walked him to the back of the store, where there were several platforms set up facing mirrors. She pointed out a platform for him to stand on and then allowed her magical tape measurer to begin taking his measurements, which were later written down by a quill onto a nearby sheet of parchment. A moment after the tape measurer began taking his measurements, the bell above the front door rang, and Madam Malkin went rushing upfront to greet her new customer.

"Come in, Hogwarts, yes?" Madam Malkin greeted the newcomer, "Another boy is being fitted back there right now. Aren't you quite tall." A moment later, Madam Malkin came trotting back in leading a tall, lanky boy with messy, short, brown hair and a banged-up pair of square glasses covering his green eyes. Jason immediately recognized him as Fredrick Diggory, a boy he had met a few years ago through their parents.

"Hey there," the boy greeted Jason as he placed some packages on the floor and took his place on the platform next to Jason's "You excited to start at Hogwarts?"

"Yah I am, how about you?"

"I'm excited," Frederick replied before the conversation lulled into an awkward silence. Jason knew that Fredrick was shy and had trouble carrying conversations past an initial greeting, but that didn't help him think of something for them to talk about. As the silence grew between them, Madam Malkin signaled for Jason to get off the platform and take a seat on a nearby chair while she made some alterations to three pairs of black robes she had picked for him.

"What's in those packages?" Jason asked when he noticed them by the door.

"Ohh, I've already gotten most of my supplies. This was my last stop," Frederick responded.

"Does that mean you already got your wand?

"Yeah, that was the first thing I got."

"Well, what's it like?" Jason asked curiously.

"It's maple wood," Frederick said "it has a dragon heartstring core. Oh, and it's thirteen inches long. Have you gotten yours yet?"

"No, not yet," Jason replied as Madam Malkin presented him with the robes she had been working on, and he passed her some money to pay for them. He said his goodbyes to Frederick and Madam Malkin and made his way out of the store to meet up with Grandpa Richard.

Jason and his grandfather spent the next hour picking up supplies from the various shops along the road, before arriving at Ollivander's, the world-renowned wand shop. When Jason first entered the store, he was so overwhelmed by the endless rows of shelves bursting with wands that he didn't notice the two people already in the store. The first was a mountain of a man sitting in a small chair by the front door, and the second was a boy the same age as him with black hair wearing oversized clothes and a pair of glasses held together by tape.

"Hello there," Jason greeted the two, but they were cut off before either had the chance to respond.

"Good afternoon," a soft voice said from the back of the store, causing all three of them to jump. The voice belonged to an ashen old man whose eyes seemed to shine as he approached them.

"Hello," said both Jason and the boy at the same time.

"Ah, yes," said Mr. Ollivander. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing the two of you soon. Jason Fortescue," the man's gaze swept to the other boy, "Harry Potter." The old man began to examine the two of them while talking about the wands he sold to both of their parents. "Which is your wand arm?" he asked the two of them while pulling a long, silver marked tape measure out of his pocket.

"I'm right-handed," Jason and Harry both said simultaneously. The old man then measured both of their right arms while explaining more about wands to them.

"These should do," Mr. Ollivander stated while pulling down two boxes and pushing the wands they contained into Jason's and Harry's hands. "That's beechwood with dragon heartstring on yours Mr. Potter, and Redwood with a unicorn horn for yours Mr. Fortescue," He said with his eyes gleaming "go on, give them a wave."

Before either of them could complete a wave, the wands were snatched out of their hands and replaced by new ones. This process was repeated many times until the eighth attempt, after which Mr. Ollivander paused before handing Jason a wand and taking another one from a box behind the counter.

"I wonder," Mr. Ollivander said while stroking his chin with one hand and pressing the wand into Jason's hand with his other. "Give this one a try, Mr. Fortescue. It's cedarwood with a phoenix feather core, 12 ½" and surprisingly swishy," he stated while looking at Jason intently.

From the moment he held it, Jason realized this wand was different. It felt warm and like it was made just for him. When he gave it a twirl, sparks flew out the end, and a rush of wind surrounded him. "Yes! Just as I suspected. How strange that this wand should be meant for you..." he looked as if he was about to say something more, but then he stopped himself "well that's not important now, you'll find out eventually."

Mr. Ollivander wrapped up the wand and then returned to offering wands to Harry. A few wands later, he found the wand that chose Harry and then told Harry that the wand that contains the other feather from the same phoenix as Harry's wand core belonged to no other than Voldemort himself. After that revelation, both Jason and Harry paid Mr. Ollivander seven gold Galleons each and bowed as the large man, and they exited the shop, filled with many questions.


	3. King's Cross

"Well, that was...something," Jason stated. Though he was glad he had found a wand that felt like an extension of himself, he was still attempting to gather his thoughts following Mr. Ollivander's ambiguous comments regarding his wand. As well as the startling revelation about Harry's wand concerning "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Pulling himself together, he turned to the two people beside him, "I didn't actually get to introduce myself, as Mr. Ollivander said, I'm Jason Fortescue," he said, offering a smile.

"Nice to meet you," the giant of a man replied, "I'm Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, but you can just call me Hagrid, and this young lad is Harry Potter." Hagrid was genuinely colossal, with long, wild black hair and an untamed beard that matched his black eyes. However, as scary as the man looked, he had a friendly attitude and a smile to match, "You're that young quidditch prodigy if I'm not mistaken."

"Quidditch prodigy?" asked Harry, looking at Jason curiously.

"I wouldn't say prodigy," Jason said quickly, "but I do play."

"Nonsense," Hagrid laughed "both of his parents are professional players, and from what I hear, he does more than just play, people say that it would be shocking if he doesn't follow in his parents' footsteps. Speaking of your parents, did they ever mention me? We used to know each other."

"I'm sorry, I can't remember them ever mentioning you," Jason could see the disappointment in Hagrid's eyes and not knowing what to do decided to address Harry instead.

"Nevermind me. You're more famous than I'll ever be. I've heard about you all my life, but I guess you could say I know a little more about you than most," Jason said, turning his attention to Harry.

Jason noticed Harry's emerald green eyes becoming clouded with confusion, "Why's that?"

"Oh well, our fathers were close friends when they were at Hogwarts. I used to hear all about the trouble they would get into."

The excitement in Harry's voice was palpable, "Is your dad here? I'd love to hear more about mine."

"No," he shook his head, "he didn't come with me." Deciding that the conversation had become a little too awkward, he said his goodbyes to Hagrid and Harry, going off to look for Grandpa Richard.

Jason found Grandpa Richard by the exit to Diagon Alley back into the Leaky Cauldron, and the previous awkwardness was replaced with joy when he found out what his grandfather had been doing. Grandpa Richard presented him with a large cage containing a brown and white tawny owl. Grandpa Richard explained that having an owl would make writing letters back home much easier, so he had decided to buy one for Jason as a present to celebrate his first year at Hogwarts.

A month had passed since the trip to Diagon Alley, and it was finally time to head off to Hogwarts. Early in the morning, Jason had packed up all of his luggage and supplies into a large trunk, and with the owl, which he had decided to name Toc, in its cage, he was all set to head out. His younger sister Jessy had said her goodbyes the night before as she didn't want to wake up early to see Jason off, and Grandpa Richard had taken him down to King's Cross station on his way to work. Jason now sat outside of the station, waiting.

Two nights before he was to leave for Hogwarts, a letter had arrived from his parents explaining to Jason that they would not make it to King's Cross to see him off and had instead asked their friends the Weasleys to meet him there. The letter described the Weasleys as "a large family of red-heads" and that he would "know them once he saw them," so now Jason sat and waited for them to arrive. After waiting for a while, Jason knew that the letter was right as a plump woman with red hair approached him and was trailed by four boys and a girl, all with the same red hair.

"You must be Jason, my dear," The red-headed woman said with a kind voice. "I'm Molly Weasley. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Jason replied, looking behind the women at her children. They were all looking at him curiously until the girl's eyes widened in recognition, and gradually, one by one, the boys recognized him.

"T-that's Jason Fortescue! He's the one we're here to meet!" exclaimed the shortest of the four boys. All of the children, except for the girl and the oldest looking boy, started talking over each other about him, his parents, and quidditch.

"Calm down," Mrs. Weasley cut across the three of them, "perhaps we should introduce ourselves before talking his ear off. The three boys all stopped talking, looking embarrassed. "This is Percy," she said, pointing at the tallest of her children who reached to shake Jason's hand "He's a fifth-year in Gryffindor, He'll be a prefect this year." She moved on, pointing next to a pair of twins who both offered their hands "These are Fred and George. They're third-years both also in Gryffindor, and this year they will stay out of trouble." Next, she pointed to the shortest boy who also offered his hand "This is Ron. He's also just starting his first year." Finally, Mrs. Weasley looked to her daughter "This is Ginny. She'll be starting at Hogwarts next year."

Jason shook the hands of each of the Weasley children, but when he reached to shake Ginny's hand, she took a step behind her mother before tentatively reaching out and shaking his hand. "He-Hello," she stuttered before stepping further back behind her mother.

"Don't mind her," Mrs. Weasley said after watching the exchange. "She's a touch shy."

"It's more than her being 'a touch shy,'" teased Fred "I believe she has a poster of you up in her room."

"So does Ron" chimed in George as the two twins started to laugh.

"STOP IT!" their younger siblings protested, but that only caused Fred and George to laugh louder.

"Would you look at the time?" Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "We'd better hurry, or we'll miss the train." At that, they all headed into King's Cross, heading for the platform.

As they walked through the train station, Mrs. Weasley complained about how crowded with muggles it was before asking, "Now, what's the platform number?"

"Nine and three-quarters!" Ginny piped.

As the exchange occurred, Jason noticed a familiar black-haired boy had started to follow them, but before he had the chance to address the boy, they had reached the platform entrance. Mrs. Weasley told Percy, followed by Fred and Gorge, to go through the pillar to the platform, but as she told Jason to go through, a new voice spoke up.

"Excuse me," Jason turned around to find that the owner of the voice was no-other than the black-haired boy he had noticed before. It belonged to Harry Potter.

"Hello, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron and Jason are new, too."

She pointed at Ron, a tall, thin, and gangling with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose. Harry asked Mrs. Weasley how to get to the platform, and after she explained that you had to run straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten, she sent Harry in ahead of them. After Harry had passed through, Jason, Ron, Ginny, and Mrs. Weasley followed, but he was already gone when they reached the other side.

"It was a pleasure to meet you," Jason said to Mrs. Weasely once they were on the platform.

"The pleasure's all mine," she replied, "have a good time at Hogwarts."

"Nice meeting you," He then said, turning to Ginny, "I guess I'll be seeing more of you next year.

"Nice to meet you too," the red-headed girl said quickly as she started to blush.

Last, Jason turned to Ron. "I'll see you on the train," he said to Ron before heading off onto the crowded platform.

While wandering around the platform, Jason couldn't believe how crowded it was. He knew finding an empty compartment was out of the question, but even so, his options were severely limited as every compartment on the Hogwarts Express was either full or almost full. He considered looking for Freddrick, but then he caught sight of Freddrick and another boy being pulled into a crowded compartment by Cedric Diggory, Frederick's older brother. After a while, Jason noticed Fred and George Weasley helping Harry load his trunk into the last empty compartment. Seeing no other option, Jason decided to join Harry, and after getting his trunk into the compartment, he took a seat next to Harry.

"Are you excited?" he asked Harry, hoping to start a conversation.

"Yes, but I'm not sure what to expect," he responded while looking out the window to where the Weasleys were gathering to say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley and Ginny.

Once they finished saying goodbye, the Weasley boys all boarded the train, and it took off with many of the families, including Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, waving and running after the train until they reached the edge of the platform. Not long after the train pulled out of the station, the compartment door opened, and Ron walked in.

"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite harry. "Everywhere else is full."

Harry shook his head, and Ron sat down. Fred and George must have told Ron who Harry was because, as he sat, he kept glancing at Harry's forehead and then quickly looking out the window as if he hadn't looked.

"Hey, Ron."

The twins made their way into the compartment, talking about a boy named Lee Jordan, who had a giant tarantula. The twins then turned to Harry and introduced themselves and Ron before taking their leave.

"Are you really, Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out.

Harry nodded, and Ron explained that he thought Fred and George were joking about it being him. Ron then asked if Harry had the scar, which he responded to by pulling back his bangs, revealing a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. Harry and Ron then started talking about their families, with Harry saying that the muggles he lives with were "horrible" and Ron explaining that he didn't just have three brothers, he was the youngest of six brothers. He pointed out that all of his things were hand-me-downs and then pulled out a rat named Scabbers, who he said used to belong to Percy.

"What about your family?" Harry said to Jason. "I heard a little about them from Hagrid, but I'm still pretty confused?"

"Well, both of my parents are captains of their quidditch teams," Jason responded. "My dad is the captain of the Chudley Cannons, and my mom is the captain of the Holyhead Harpies. I also have a younger sister. She'll start at Hogwarts next year."

The conversation died off after that, and the three boys sat in silence for a while until the candy trolly came by. Between Jason and Harry, they bought a large pile with multiple of every candy. The three boys sat there for a long time, eating different sweets and talking. It was at about his fourth Every Flavor Bean, garlic-flavored, when Jason realized, to his surprise, that he was enjoying himself. Maybe hanging out with these guys won't be too bad, Jason thought to himself as he laughed at Harry's face when he bit into a sardine flavored jelly bean.


	4. Arrival

The train ride was a blast. Harry, Ron, and Jason were having a lot of fun eating their snacks and talking when suddenly there was a knock on the compartment door. When the door slid open, there stood a round-faced boy who looked like he was on the brink of tears.

"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

The three of them shook their heads, and the boy wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"

"He'll turn up," said Harry.

"And we'll keep an eye out," added Jason.

"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." the boy called as he left.

"If I'd brought a toad, I'd lose it as quick as I could," Ron teased after the boy left. "Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."

The three of them all looked at the fat, grey rat that was sleeping on Ron's lap.

"He might have died, and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust.

Ron then began to talk about how he knew a spell to turn Scabbers yellow and began rummaging through his trunk to find his wand. The wand was chipped all over with a glistening white thread pointing out of the end. That wand is in terrible shape, Jason thought to himself the unicorn hair is poking out.

Ron raised his wand to perform the spell, but before he could begin, the compartment door slid open once more. The toadless boy was back, and this time he was not alone. Next to the boy stood a girl already in her Hogwarts robes with bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said in a loud and bossy voice.

Ron told her that we had already told Neville that we hadn't seen his toad, but she was not paying attention to anything he said. Instead, her brown eyes were focused solely on the wand in Ron's hand.

"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then."

She sat down next to Ron, who looked very confused.

"Er - all right."

He cleared his throat and began to recite the most ridiculous spell Jason had ever heard. The spell was so obviously made up that Jason had to fake a cough to cover his laughter. When Ron finished reciting his spell, he waved his wand over Scabbers, who remained asleep and unaffected.

"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it?"

She then started to talk about how she's tried a few practice spells on the train, and they all worked for her. The girl explained that she was from a muggle family and didn't know anything about magic until she got her acceptance letter. From then on, she dug into everything she could find about it, even memorizing all of their course books by heart.

"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" she added as an afterthought.

"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.

"Jason Fortescue, nice to meet you," Jason said.

"Really?" she said, "I've read about you when I was learning about quidditch."

"Harry Potter," said Harry when Jason failed to respond.

"Are you really?" said Hermione. "I know all about you."

She then burst into an explanation about how she had gotten more than just the course books, and she quickly listed off some books that Harry is mentioned in, leaving him looking dazed. Before any of the three boys had the chance to recover, Hermione started talking about what house she hoped to be in, listing Gryffindor as her first pick, partly because it was the house that Dumbledore himself was in, and Ravenclaw as her second. Finally, she said that she should return to looking for Neville's toad and practically dragged the boy out of the compartment.

"You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon," she added as she slid the compartment door closed.

"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. He threw his wand back into his trunk, complaining about how George had given him the spell, and he should've known it was fake.

"What House are your brothers in?" asked Harry.

"Gryffindor," said Ron, filled with gloom. "My entire family has always been in Gryffindor. I can't imagine what they'd think if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

"My whole family was in Gryffindor, too," added Jason.

The conversation then turned to Ron's oldest brothers Bill and Charlie. Ron told them how Charlie works with dragons in Romania, and Bill is in Africa working for Gringotts. When he mentioned, Gringotts Ron started to talk about the news involving Gringotts. The safest bank in the world had been robbed, but nothing was taken. Ron's father believes that it was the work of a powerful Dark wizard, and that left Jason wondering if the robbery was connected to You-Know-Who.

Trying to turn the conversation away from such a dark topic, Ron asked about what quidditch teams they support, and when Harry responded that he didn't know any, Ron started to explain the game in detail. As Ron was telling Harry about the different positions in quidditch, the compartment door slid open once again, but this time it wasn't Neville or Hermione.

Four boys entered the compartment with a blond-haired, very pale boy in the lead. The two boys behind him were both thick-set with black hair and looked extremely mean. The final boy stood a little behind them. He was pretty lanky and slender, with curly brown hair that was lighter on the sides than on the top. After a moment, Jason recognized the fourth boy as the one who was with Freddrick earlier when Cedric dragged them into a compartment.

"Is it true?" the boy in the lead said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes," said Harry, whose gaze was stuck on the boys behind the leader.

"Oh, this is Crabbe, and this is Goyle, and the one in the back is Silas," the pale boy said carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Draco Malfoy."

Ron faked a cough to cover a laugh, but Malfoy saw through it and turned to him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

Malfoy turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. I can help you avoid making friends with the wrong sort."

He held out a hand towards Harry, but Harry ignored it.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.

The pale boy was enraged by that, his face taking on a pink hue. He started to threaten Harry, saying that he'd end up like his parents. The boy continued yelling at Harry, telling him that hanging around with "riff-raff like the Weasleys and Hagrid" would rub off on him.

Harry, Jason, and Ron had enough of the boy, and all three of them stood up.

"Say that again," Ron said, his face taking on the same color as his hair.

"You're not really gonna try to fight us, are you?" Silas sneered from behind Malfoy.

"Unless you get out now," Jason responded through grit teeth. He glanced at Harry and Ron quickly, who both looked much braver than he did as the much larger Crabe and Goyle approached.

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we boys? We've eaten all our food, and you still seem to have some," said Malfoy.

Goyle reached for their Chocolate Frogs - Ron lept into action, but before he reached Goyle, Goyle let out a scream.

Scabbers had bitten Goyle and was now hanging off of his finger. Crabbe, Silas, and Malfoy all backed away at the sight of Scabbers, who was being swung around by Goyle as he howled with pain. Finally, Scabbers flew off and hit a window as the four boys disappeared back into the train. A moment later, Hermione Granger appeared in the doorway.

"What has been going on?" she said while surveying the room.

"Is he alright?" Jason asked Ron as he picked up Scabbers.

"I think he's been knocked out, no - I don't believe it- he's gone back to sleep."

Ron asked Harry how he knew Malfoy and Harry explained that they met in Diagon Alley. Ron also informed them that the Malfoy's had been on You-Know-Who's side, but claim to have been bewitched. The three of them had seemingly forgotten about Hermione, who now spoke up.

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front, we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you?"

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron said, scowling at her.

Heroine left once again, as Ron, Harry, and Jason changed into their robes. When they finished changing, an announcement echoed through the train, informing everyone that they would arrive in five minutes, and so, filling their pockets with the leftover candy, the three boys exited into the hallway.

When the train pulled into the station, all of its passengers disembarked, swarming the station with students. Through the mass of bodies, Hagrid called for all of the first years to follow him until they reached the edge of a lake and had their first glimpse at the Hogwarts castle. Across a great black lake, perched atop a high mountain, with sparkling windows like stars in the night sky stood a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more than five to a boat!" called out Hagrid as he entered and filled up an entire boat. Jason entered a boat with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Moments later, the boats were gliding across the lake towards Hogwarts Castle.

When they finally clambered out of the boats, it was onto rocks and pebbles in an underground harbor, carved into the cliff below the castle. "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" called Hagrid as he checked the boats.

"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully as he reclaimed his toad. Everyone then clambered up a passageway in the rock until they, at last, came out onto smooth, damp grass in the shadow of the castle.

They climbed a flight of stone stairs to reach the massive, oak doors of the castle. Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and loudly knocked three times on the castle door, which immediately swung open, revealing a tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes. The witch had a stern face as she looked over the fresh crop of first years.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

Professor McGonagall thanked Hagrid and pulled the doors further open, ushering them into an entrance hall large enough for a house to fit in. She led them across the flagged stone floor past a large doorway that echoed with hundreds of voices to a small, empty chamber where everyone gathered around nervously.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start of term banquet shall begin shortly, but before that, you must be sorted into your Houses. This ceremony is essential, as your house shall be your family within Hogwarts. Your triumphs will earn you House points, while any rule-breaking will lose them. I will return for you when we are ready for you."

She left them in wonder as they all speculated what the sorting would be. Not long after she left, a crowd of ghosts flew through the chamber, frightening everyone. As the ghosts began speaking to the first years, Professor McGonagall returned and led them to a pair of grand double doors in the great hall.


	5. The Sorting Ceremony

The doors flung open, ushering them into a large room lit by thousands and thousands of floating candles hovering over four long tables. The tables were covered with glittering golden plates and goblets, and at the tables sat the rest of the student body. At the far end of the hall stood another long table, where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years through the room and had them stand in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.

While staring out at the ocean of faces, Jason could hear Hermione whisper, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Wondering what she was talking about, he looked up to see that the roof appeared like the night sky dotted with stars. It seemed as if there wasn't a ceiling at all, but instead, the room was open to the heavens.

Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat, which was beaten up, dirty, and filled with patches. The entire hall went quiet until a rip near the brim opened into a mouth, and the hat began to sing. In the song, the hat explained that to be sorted into a house, a student has to wear the hat, and it would place them.

When the hat stopped singing, the hall burst into applause. The hat bowed to each of the four tables and then became still again.

"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered. "I'll kill Fred. He was going on about wrestling a troll."

Jason and Harry both smiled at that. Why would Ron even believe that? Jason thought to himself.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward, holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbot, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled her way out of line, put on the hat that fell to cover her eyes, and sat on the stool. A moment's pause -

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.

The right-most table cheered and clapped as Hannah sat down with them. The ghost of the Fat Friar also waved at her.

Jason didn't pay much attention as the sorting ceremony continued. Instead, he took the time to contemplate what his life would be like with each house. He would like Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw would be interesting too, most people don't want Hufflepuff, but he doesn't see a problem with it. The only house he absolutely didn't want to be in was Slytherin.

"Diggory, Frederick!" Jason was snapped out of his thoughts.

The lanky boy slowly inched his way out of the line and towards the stool. He had a nervous look on his face, as he tentatively put on the hat as he sat on the stool. It was dead quiet for a while, longer than any of the other sortings, but finally, the hat spoke.

"RAVENCLAW!"

The Ravenclaw table erupted with cheers, and from the Hufflepuff table, Jason could make out Cedric Diggory clapping. Fredrick made his way to the Ravenclaw table with a look of both relief and disappointment on his face.

"Fortescue, Jason," Professor McGonagall called after a few more people were sorted. Many people in the hall started to whisper to each other, as they recognized him.

Jason made his way to the stool, trying to portray an air of confidence that he didn't feel. As he picked up the hat, he felt the rough material in his hand. When he placed the hat on his head and took a seat on the stool, the hat drooped down over his eyes, encasing him in darkness.

"Hmm," a small voice whispered in his ear. "This will be interesting. I see reasons to place you in each house. Courage? Yes, plenty of that. Ambition? A fair amount of that too. Lots of intelligence and loyalty as well."

As the hat spoke to him, Jason's mind raced until he came to a single thought. Please, Gryffindor!

"That would work. You'll do well there." the hat said to him.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

The Gryffindor table on the far left side of the hall started to cheer. When Jason made his way to the table, he shook hands with many people, including Percy Weasley. Fred and George both clapped him on the back as he took a seat next to them.

The next up for sorting was Hermione Granger. The moment her name was called, she rushed up to the stool and quickly pulled on the sorting hat. The hat had barely touched her head when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" After she received her house, Hermione made her way to the Gryffindor table and took the seat next to Jason.

After Hermione, Neville Longbottom was, surprisingly, also sorted into Gryffindor. The sorting ceremony continued this way, with Malfoy joining his goons Crabbe and Goyle in Slytherin. As the remaining first-years grew smaller, the excitement of the ceremony seemed to be lost, but that all changed when a particular name was called.

"Potter, Harry!"

As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out all over the hall. People couldn't believe that Harry was actually at the school, or how scrawny he was. The whispers appeared to be getting to Harry as he approached the stool, with his face showing his apparent nervousness. When the hat was placed on his head, everything went quiet and remained that way for some time. Harry's sorting was taking by far the longest of any of the first-years, so when at long last the hat announced "GRYFFINDOR!" many students jumped.

Harry walked shakily to the Gryffindor table, seemingly, not realizing that he was receiving the loudest cheer of the ceremony. Percy jumped up to greet him and vigorously shook Harry's hand, while Fred and George yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" When Harry finally sat down, he was sitting across from Jason, who shook his hand.

"You look like you're about to pass out," he teased Harry.

"It was more than a little nerve-wracking," Harry squeaked back to Jason, causing Jason to smile widely.

The next person up after Harry was Quinn Silas. When the sorting hat announced his house to be Slytherin, there was some applause, but not much. Silas looked upset about his reception, and from the glares, he aimed in Harry's direction, Jason assumed he was blaming Harry for his reception.

There were only four students left to be sorted, including Ron. Ron was the second to last first-year to put on the sorting hat. Ron was pale green by now. The moment the hat was placed on his head, it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Jason clapped loudly for Ron, along with Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor table, as Ron collapsed into the seat next to Harry.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy pompously as the final first year was sorted into Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting hat away.

Professor Albus Dumbledore got to his feet. He was tall, dressed in all purple robes with a long silver beard reaching down from his chin. Professor Dumbledore beamed at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"  
He sat back down. All of the students clapped, while Jason tried and failed to hold back his laughter.

"Is he- a bit mad?" Jason heard Harry ask Percy.

"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes."

While Harry and Percy were talking, Jason looked down at the empty plates and was shocked to see them full of food. Jason piled his plate with heaps of food and began to dig in. The food was delicious, and he had never tasted anything quite so good before. While he was eating, a ghost in a ruff floated through the center of the table and began talking with Harry.

"I don't think I've introduced myself?" the ghost was saying. "Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."

"I know who you are!" blurted Ron. "You're Nearly Headless Nick!"

"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" interrupted a sandy-haired boy named Seamus Finnigan.

Sir Nicholas wasn't very pleased with this.

"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder. Upon closer inspection, Jason could see that there was only a small sliver of flesh holding his head onto his neck. Someone must have tried to behead him but didn't do it properly. Nick looked pleased with the shocked faces of the nearby first-years. He then told the first-years that Gryffindor hadn't won the house cup in years, with Slytherin taking it for the last six years in a row.

As everyone finished their dinner, the food faded from the plates and was replaced with desserts. As Jason took a slice of cake, the talk turned to their families. Seamus told everyone that he is "half-and-half" with a muggle dad and a witch mom. Neville comes from an all magical family, but his grandma raised him. He never said what happened to his parents. On Jason's other side, Hermione and Percy were talking about classes and what the curriculum was like.

"Ouch!" yelled Harry from across the table, as he clapped his hand to his head.

"Are you alright?" Jason asked him.

"Yeah, fine."

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"N-nothing."

"Who's the teacher talking with Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked Percy.

"That's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Jason watched curiously as Harry stared at Professor Snape, but stopped when Professor Dumbeldor stood up again. Professor Dumbledore made some announcements, letting first-years know that the forest is forbidden to all pupils. He also said that someone named Mr. Filch asked him to remind everyone that magic is not allowed in the corridors. Next, he said something that got Jason's attention: Quidditch trials would be held the second week of the term. Finally, he informed everyone that the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to "die a very painful death."

"Is he serious?" Harry muttered to Percy.

"Must be," replied Percy. "It's odd. He usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere."

Dumbledore then invited everyone to sing the school song before bed. With a wave of his wand, a long golden ribbon flew into the air with the words of the school song written on it. Everyone sang to a different tune, so they all finished at different times. Jason found himself grinning, as the last one's singing were the Weasley twins who sang the song as a prolonged funeral march.

"Off you trot!" Professor Dumbledor clapped when the singing was over, and he waved all the students off to bed.


	6. Beginning of the Term

Percy led the Gryffindor first-years to the Gryffindor common room. The path to the common room was complicated, with many twists and turns, as well as doorways hidden behind panels and tapestries. Eventually, their trip was halted when a floating bundle of walking sticks started to throw themselves at Percy.

"Peeves," Percy explained to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."

A loud rush of wind, like air being let out of a balloon, answered.

"Must I go fetch the Bloody Baron?"

A little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

Peeves swooped suddenly at them, before floating away, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head as he went.

"You want to watch out for Peeves," Percy told them as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

At the end of the corridor hung a portrait of a fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," said Percy, causing the portrait to swing forward, revealing a large round hole in the wall. They all clambered through the hole and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of comfortable looking armchairs and couches.

Percy directed the girls through a door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the end of a spiral staircase were their beds: seven four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. All of their trunks were at the foot of their beds. Finding his trunk by a bed between Harry's and Neville's, Jason, along with the others, started to change into their pajamas and fell into bed. For the first time in a long time, sleep came quickly to Jason.

Getting around Hogwarts could be tricky. There were plenty of tricky staircases and doors that would only open if you treated them the right way. The stairs would also move, and the people in the paintings would visit different frames, making it difficult to find a landmark for navigation. Jason found out on his first morning that the most helpful way to get around for a young Gryffindor was to ask Nearly Headless Nick. Peeves, on the other hand, had a habit of making people's lives miserable and would do anything he could to make students late to class.

According to Harry and Ron, the caretaker Argus Filch is even worse than Peeves. Harry and Ron had earned the wrath of Mr. Filch when they got lost and tried to open the door to the forbidden third-floor corridor. Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a skinny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp-like eyes that matched Filch's. Mrs. Norris patrolled the corridors alone and would report any misbehavior to Filch. Filch could get anywhere in the castle in a heartbeat, he knew the school's secret passageways better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) and could appear as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated Mr. Filch, and Ron constantly complained about how he would appear around Harry and Ron all the time.

The classes themselves were exciting. They studied the night sky on Wednesdays at midnight during Astronomy, and they worked in the Greenhouses behind the castle during Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout. The most boring class was History of Magic, taught by the ghost Professor Binns. The elderly Professor Binns had apparently fallen asleep one day in the staffroom and when he got up to teach again, he left his body behind. Binns' class consisted of him droning on while all the students attempted to keep up taking notes.

One of Jason's favorite professors was Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher. Flitwick, a very kind and funny teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. Jason's other favorite professor was Professor McGonagall. She taught Transfigurations, and although she was a severe teacher, she was also very fair. During their very first class, she gave them all a talking to.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."

Professor McGonagall then turned her desk into a pig and back again to the amazement of the entire class. Everyone was kind of disappointed when they realized that large transfigurations like that were far off, and instead, she put the class to work trying to change a match into a needle, but Jason still enjoyed it. At the end of the lesson, only Jason and Hermione had made any progress; Professor McGonagall showed the class how their matches had turned silver and gotten pointy. She then gave the two of them a slight smile.

The first year's most anticipated class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Professor Quirrell's lessons didn't live up to expectations. Professor Quirrell was tall with a young face, with his head wrapped in a purple turban, and he seemed to be scared of his subject. Quirrell tended to stutter when he spoke and looked terrified whenever he talked about dark creatures.

Friday marked a significant change for the Gryffindor first-years. Jason was sitting in the great hall, eating breakfast, and having his ear talked off by another first-year, Edgar Allen. Edgar was easily the tallest first year with light blond hair that he kept extremely short. While Jason was unable to get a word into the conversation, he noticed something that had never happened before; Harry and Ron made it down for breakfast on time. Seeing the two of them make their way to the table, Jason excused himself and went to sit with them.

"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as they started to eat.

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. "Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them."

"Well, this should be fun," Jason said sarcastically.

"Wish McGonagall favored us," added Harry. Professor McGonagall is the head of Gryffindor House, and she was just as strict to Gryffindors as any of the others.

A moment later, the mail arrived. The hall was filled with the flapping of wings, as hundreds of owls brought mail to the students. Toc was flying side by side with Harry's owl Hedwig, and they both dropped letters to their owners. Jason's letter was from Grandpa Richard. Grandpa Richard didn't really say anything in his letter, but Jason was happy to have gotten the letter anyway. All Grandpa Richard really wanted was to see how Jason was adjusting to life at Hogwarts, so after quickly finishing his breakfast, he penned a quick response summarizing his first few days.

As Jason sent Toc off with his response, Hermione approached him.

"Goodmorning," she began. "Professor McGonagall asked me to give this to you." Hermione passed a piece of parchment to Jason before turning to look at Harry and Ron. "You should all be getting on your way soon. Wouldn't want to be late for potions."

With one last look at the three boys, Hermione made her way out of the Great hall heading for potions.

"What does the note say?" Harry asked.

"Professor McGonagall wants me to go to her office after classes today."

"What'd you do to earn that?" Ron laughed.

"I don't know," Jason said as he tried to figure out what it could be about. "Hermione's right though, we should get going," at that, the three of them got up and headed to potions.

Potions class was held in one of the dungeons in what must be the coldest room in the castle. Professor Snape kept the room dark and creepy, with pickled animals in glass jars all around the walls.

Snape started the class with roll call and took the time to point out Harry as "Our new celebrity," and Jason as "the sports star," both earning a chorus of snickers from Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Silas.

After roll call, Snape stared at the class with his piercing black eyes. His cold, empty eyes held no warmth.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," he began. Snape spoke in a whisper that caught the attention of everyone in the room. His speech was short and precise, and he ended it by saying, "I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

An eerie silence followed Snape's speech. Jason exchanged concerned looks with the boy next to him, another Gryffindor first year named Dean Thomas. Looking around the room, Jason saw many people, including Harry and Ron doing the same. The only exception was Hermione, who was sitting on the edge of her seat, eager to prove that she wasn't a dunderhead.

"Potter!" blurted Snape.

He then burst into a spree of questions, each and everyone one causing Harry to respond, "I don't know," as Hermione's hand raised higher and higher. This went on for a little while, extracting the laughter of the Slytherins, especially from Malfoy's gang.

After Snape's fourth question and Harry once again admitting that he didn't know, he snapped back at Snape, "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"

His response earned Harry laughter from a few of the students, as well as a wink from Seamus, but it also earned him Snape's ire. He began listing off the answers to all of his questions, before taking a point away from Gryffindor House for Harry's "cheek."

The class was put to work on making a potion to cure boils in pairs. Jason and Dean worked hard on their potion, but it was difficult with Snape's constant critiquing and criticizing everyone's potion except Malfoy and Silas'. While they were working, Neville accidentally melted Seamus' cauldron, getting their potion all over the floor and Neville himself. Snape flew into a rage as Neville broke out into boils from getting the potion on his skin. Snape sent Seamus to take Neville to the hospital wing before blaming Harry for Neville's mistake and taking another House point from Gryffindor.

What a maniac, Jason thought to himself. This professor's a psychopath.

"And you!" Snape snapped at Jason as if he had read Jason's mind. "Did you even bother to crush the snake fangs Fortescue! After seeing what happened with Longbottom's potion, I would be fearful for anyone whose boils you tried to cure!" Snape spoke in no more than a dull roar, but the pure hatred in each word pierced through Jason like spikes being hammered into his skin. "That will be another point from Gryffindor," he added as an afterthought.

Jason, Harry, and Ron climbed the stairs out of the dungeons an hour later with low spirits.

"Cheer up," Ron told the two of them, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George," He got quiet for a minute. "Hagrid invited you for tea, right?" he asked Harry, "can I come along too?"

"Sure," said Harry. "Jason, why don't you come also?"

"Ok, but I have to go meet Professor McGonagall first."

"Try not to lose us any more house points," Ron laughed as Jason split from him and Harry to go to McGonagall's office.


	7. A Spot of Tea

Professor McGonagall's office was a small room located just off the first-floor corridor. Before Jason could even knock at the door, Professor McGonagall called him in. She was sitting on a high backed chair in front of a large wooden desk. To the side stood two large reading chairs located on either side of a welcoming fire.

"Please take a seat, Mr. Fortescue," Professor McGonagall said with a smile, indicating one fo the reading chairs.

"Have I done something wrong?" Jason asked, hesitantly taking a seat.

"Oh no, not at all," she responded with a slight smile. "I just wanted to talk with you. How are your classes going? Are you adjusting well to the workload?"

"Classes are good, and I've been keeping up just fine."

"Do you have much spare time?" she asked.

"For what?" Jason asked curiously.

A broad grin came over Professor McGonagall's face. "Do you know much about the school's policy on first years playing quidditch? First-years aren't allowed to bring their brooms to school, but they are not forbidden to try out for their house's team. That being said, no first year has made a house team in over a century. I think you could change that."

"You're asking me to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

"Yes, the staff, as well as many students, know about your history with Quidditch. You are on a top junior league team and have experience playing all positions. This year, there is an open chaser spot as well as the seeker position. I would invite you to try out for whichever position you prefer."

Jason thought it over. His studies didn't seem like they would take up too much of his time, but adding quidditch into that would make him busy pretty much all the time. That being said, he did want to play quidditch at Hogwarts and had always planned on trying out but being invited to do so made him hesitate for some reason.

Seeing the hesitance in Jason, Professor McGonagall added, "Gryffindor hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in many years. Our current team captain is attempting to put together the best team he can to win it this year, and he and I both agree that you would be a vital part of that team."

"Ok," Hearing Professor McGonagall's final plea helped Jason make up his mind. "I usually play as a chaser, so I'll try out for the open chaser spot.

Before taking his leave, Jason and Professor McGonagall talked logistics of Quidditch tryouts for some time. McGonagall explained that due to him being a first-year and the rule against first years bringing brooms to school he would have to try out using a school-provided broom. The school's brooms were not what Jason was used to, but he was confident that it wouldn't affect his performance. She also told him that if he made the Gryffindor team, he would be given special permission to bring his own broom to be used for practices and matches. By the time that Jason's meeting with Professor McGonagall was over, it was time for him to meet with Harry and Ron to walk to Hagrid's.

"How was your meeting?" Ron asked when Jason found him and Harry in the entrance hall. "Did you get in trouble?"

"Nope, not at all," Jason responded. "Instead, I was invited to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

"What?" Harry and Ron both asked in shock.

"I'll explain on the way, we don't want to be late."

The three boys made their way out of the castle and across the grounds. As they walked, Jason filled Harry and Ron in on the details of his meeting with Professor McGonagall, finishing his story as they arrived in front of Hagrid's house. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest.

"That's amazing!" Ron exclaimed as they approached Hagrid's house. "I don't think I've ever heard of a first-year being invited to try out for a quidditch team. There hasn't been a first-year on a house quidditch team in centuries."

"I'm not sure what's happening here, but congratulations," Harry said as he knocked on Hagrid's door.

The knock was answered by a series of frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Eventually, Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - back."

The door cracked open to show Hagrid's big, hairy face.

"Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."

When Hagrid finally let them in he was struggling to keep a hand on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.

The inside of the house was only one room. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.

"Make yourselves at home," said Hagrid, as he released Fang, who proved himself to be not as fierce as he looked. Fang immediately ran straight up to Ron and started to lick his ears.

"I'm sure you remember Jason," Harry told Hagrid, who was starting to make some tea and putting rock cakes onto a plate. "And this is Ron."

"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's face. "It feels like I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."

The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but following Harry and Ron's lead, Jason pretended to enjoy them while they told Hagrid all about their first few days of lessons. As they sat talking, Jason was unconsciously petting Fang who was drooling all over Jason's robes.

The three of them were happy to find out that Hagrid didn't think too highly of Mr. Filch, calling him "the old git." Hagrid also seemed to have problems with Mrs. Norris, saying that Filch has her follow him around whenever he goes up to the castle.

Jason told Hagrid about Professor McGonagall's invitation for him to try out for the Quidditch team, earning him a chuckle and a smile. "Makes sense they'd want ya on your house team. With your family history and experience, I'm sure you'll make it. Then you'd be on the same team as Ron's brothers."

"Really?" Jason asked Ron, surprised.

"Yeah, Fred and George are the team's beaters," Ron replied.

The topic then switched to today's potions lesson with Harry complaining about how much Snape seemed to hate him. Hagrid assured Harry that Snape doesn't get along with anyone, but when Harry insisted that Snape hated him more than others Hagrid refused to meet his eye.

"How's your brother Charlie doing?" Hagrid asked Ron, obviously attempting to change the topic. "I always like him, he's great with animals."

Ron and Hagrid spent some time talking about Charlie when suddenly Harry interrupted them. "The break-in at Gringotts happened on my birthday, that's when we were there. Maybe it happened while we were in the bank."

Hagrid definitely avoided Harry's eyes at this point, only grunting in response and offering him another rock cake. Harry was very quiet for the rest of the tea time, on the way back to the castle, and throughout dinner.

When Jason finished his dinner there was still some time before curfew, so he decided to have a walk around the castle. He spent some time wandering the corridors and talking to the people in the paintings until he found himself in the clocktower courtyard. Looking up at the massive clocktower Jason decided he should head back to Gryffindor tower.

When Jason reentered the castle he heard voices coming from a nearby corridor and decided to listen in.

"You there! Don't you see what you just did to my shoes!" shouted a voice that could only belong to Malfoy. "I think you should clean them up for me."

Jason peeked around the corner to see Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Silas standing over a boy sprawled out on the floor. He was clutching his stomach, leading Jason to believe that he had been punched there.

"I'm sorry, it was an accident," the boy said, earning him a kick from Goyle.

"I'm sorry, Quinn please tell them to stop," the boy looked up at Silas, and Jason finally recognized the boy as Freddrick.

"How brazen of him? Right Silas," Malfoy started. "Does he think he can just call you by your first name like that? He should respect his betters."

Jason couldn't see Silas's face, but he could hear a very quiet voice respond. "Yeah, how dare he."

Jason wasn't sure what to do, he decided he should probably try to help Freddrick, but before he could move Malfoy grew bored and beckoned his cronies to follow him back to the Slytherin common room.

Once Malfoy and his crew had left, Jason sprinted to help Freddrick up, but he had gotten up on his own. When Freddrick saw Jason standing there he looked mortified.

Freddrick had a bruise on his cheek, probably from when he had hit the floor and he was still clutching his stomach.

"Are you ok?" Jason asked moving to help Freddrick steady himself.

Freddrick moved away before he could help. "I'm fine, don't worry about it," He said in a strained voice, sounding on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry you had to see that. I should be getting back."

With that Freddrick took off down the corridor towards the stairs, leaving Jason standing there worried.

I have to find a way to help him, Jason thought to himself as he made his way back to Gryffindor tower.


	8. Quidditch Tryouts

Draco Malfoy and his gang had quickly built up a reputation as bullies. They could be found at any given time outside of class either picking on students or roaming the halls like predators on the hunt for their prey. Over the next few days following the incident with Freddrick, Jason had seen them picking on many of the other first-years, and even a few of second years too. If any student dared to stand up to them, they were quick to resort to violence, normally with Crabe, Goyle, and Silas holding down the victim while Malfoy beat them up.

Of all the students Malfoy's gang picked on, Freddrick seemed to be getting it the worst. He could be found daily being beaten up or doing humiliating tasks for Malfoy's gang. Slowly the other first years, including his fellow Ravenclaws, started to avoid him as not to draw the attention of Malfoy and the others. Jason tried to reach out to Freddrick on several occasions, but he would always just laugh it off when Jason approached him and even started to actively avoid Jason. Jason lacked experience with this type of situation and couldn't think of a way to help Freddrick, especially when he seemed to not want any help.

The Gryffindor's didn't interact with Slytherins much except during their potions class. Jason tried to observe Malfoy during those lessons but still couldn't find something to use against Malfoy to get him to leave Freddrick alone. When a notice went up in the Gryffindor common room that flying lessons would be held on Thursday with the Slytherins, Jason decided that this was a great chance to find some dirt on Malfoy. Jason also decided to ask Harry and Ron what they think about Malfoy to see if they could give him any ideas.

"I can't stand them," said Ron immediately when Jason asked on the way to breakfast. "They're bloody nuisances. Harry and I have been hoping for a reason to fight them." Harry nodded his agreement.

"I don't think that's the answer," Jason told them. "I mean you guys have seen the size of Crabe and Goyle, even if you could take Malfoy and Silas I doubt you could take those two."

"Why the sudden interest in them?" Harry asked.

"No reason," Jason had decided that he should keep the actual reason quiet for now, especially because Freddrick didn't seem to want to deal with it at the moment. "Just figured they're people to look out for."

"Hmm, but I'd say you don't have time to worry about them. Don't you have Quidditch tryouts today?" Ron replied.

"Yup, I'm going straight from them to flying lessons today," Jason said as they arrived in the great hall for breakfast.

The three of them sat down next to Neville who was listening to Hermione list off tips for flying that she read in Quidditch Through the Ages. Neville, Hermione, Dean, and Harry were the most nervous about flying lessons, as they were the only ones who had never flown before. In contrast, Malfoy could be heard at the Slytherin table boasting about his skills in quidditch and telling a story about how he had escaped a group of muggles in a helicopter on his broom just the day before coming to Hogwarts. His boasting was interrupted by the arrival of the mail.

Jason had been writing letters back and forth with Grandpa Richard, but he didn't get anything today. The most interesting package was for Neville, who received a remembrall from his Grandmother. As Neville looked over his Remembrall, Malfoy and his gang approached and snatched it from him. Harry and Ron leapt to their feet, ready to fight, but just then Professor McGonagall approached. She quickly settled the matter, as Malfoy dropped Nevillel's remembrall on the table.

"You'd better get going," Professor McGonagall told Jason. "Don't want to be late for tryouts." Realizing the time, Jason quickly scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and headed for the Quidditch Pitch.

It was a beautiful day outside, with clear skies perfect for flying. The Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch was a large, oval stadium surrounded by stands, with twelve towers sticking out from them. On either side of the Quidditch Pitch stood the standard three goalposts.

When he arrived at the Quidditch Pitch the standing members of the team were all present, with Fred and Geroge handing out school brooms to everyone without a broom. Jason took a broom from Fred, who winked at him and sent him to stand in a line with all the other students who were trying out. Once everyone had arrived a well-built and burly boy addressed the assembled crowd.

"Good morning everyone," he shouted. "For those who don't know me, I'm Oliver Wood. I'm a fifth year, I'm the keeper for and the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Today we have two open positions, one chaser, and the seeker. If you are trying out for chaser please stand to the left, if you are trying out for seeker please stand to the right."

The twenty-five gathered students split in two, with Jason and fourteen others standing to the left and the other ten taking a place on the right. The first task of tryouts was to fly laps around the quidditch pitch. Fred and George led the two groups while flying laps, with Wood floating in the middle of the pitch keeping an eye on everyone. The broom Jason was using was decent enough, but it pulled to the left a little, so he had to remember to compensate for that. After a few laps, Wood started calling out formations and each group was expected to quickly form that formation behind Fred or George. Jason was in George's group and was usually the first person to get into a formation after it was called. Out of everyone trying out for the chaser position, Jason could see a few people who seemed to know how to handle a broom. The same couldn't be said for those trying out for the seeker position, who all seemed to be having trouble with the formations and keeping pace with Fred who was leading their group.

After a while of flying laps, Wood called for them all to come back down. Wood then told everyone to take a short break while he took Fred and George aside to discuss what they saw. During the break, Jason noticed that a lot of the other students trying out were watching him and whispering. He had expected this type of attention, coming from a quidditch family, and already being known as a good quidditch player he figured there would be a lot of talk about him during tryouts. He was sure that some of them were resentful that he was trying out and would call the results unfair if he got the position, but he was ready to deal with the outcome, whatever it was.

When Wood was done discussing with Fred and George he called them all back to attention. Those trying out for seeker went with another member of the Gryffindor team, a girl named Katie Bell who played chaser, and were given the task of trying to catch a golden snitch. At the same time, Jason and the Chaser group were sorted into two teams and set to a quick scrimmage.

The scrimmage went well, the final score was 60-40 with Jason's team coming out on top. After the scrimatch Wood started to pick out players from the teams. He chose five people in total, including Jason, and told them they would be moving on to the next round. Most of the people who didn't make it accepted the decision, but some were upset. One sixth-year who was trying out started to yell that the results were unfair and that Jason shouldn't even have been allowed to try out. Fred and George both moved to Jason's defense, starting an argument with the sixth-year, that ended quickly when Professor McGonagall arrived to see how tryouts were going.

"Thanks, guys," Jason said to Fred and George. "It means a lot to me that you would stand up for me."

"Don't worry about it," Fred responded.

"That twit was never gonna make the team, he can't work with others," added George with a laugh.

"Well now that that's settled," started Wood. "We're gonna move on to the final stage of tryouts. Each of you are going to take turns trying to score with me defending the goalposts. If you miss you don't get another chance, and we will keep going until all but one person has missed."

The first two students missed their shots and were taken out of the trial, but the third made her shot. She was a third-year named Alicia Spinnet and was the best of Jason's competition. The fourth student also missed his shot, leaving only Jason to take his shot.

During the runup to his shot, Jason got an idea of how good a keeper Wood was. He had a very commanding presence, and his piercing gaze followed all of Jason's movements to predict his actions. Jason flew towards the right goal, but it was just a feint, as he spun around, using the back of his broom to launch the quaffle at the middle goal. Wood anticipated this and moved to intercept the shot, but the quaffle just barely made it in.

Jason and Alicia spent the next half an hour taking turns making shots on Wood, with neither of them missing. On one of Alicia's shots, she threw the quaffle for the left goal, but Wood was able to intercept it, kicking the quaffle away from the goal. This is it, Jason thought. If I make this shot it's over.

Jason made his approach, once again, for the right goal. Wood positioned himself between the middle and right goals so that he could react in either direction, but Jason stayed aiming for the right goal. Wood committed to positioning himself in the right goal, believing that Jason was heading for it. At the last second, Jason did a barrel roll to the left, ending in the perfect position to score on the left goal. Wood tried to intercept the quaffle, but Jason made his throw and the quaffle soared through the goal.

Wood called tryouts to an end and went to ask Katie how the seeker group did. After talking with Katie, Wood gathered the quidditch hopefuls up again.

"First off, I would like to say thank you and good job to everyone who showed up today," Wood began. "For the seeker position, seeing that no one was able to catch the snitch, I have yet to make my decision. I will hold another try out with the best performers from both the chaser and seeker groups to make a final decision at a later date." The members of the seeker group seemed pretty upset about that, but some of the students in the chaser group seemed happy to have another chance at making the team. "Finally," Wood continued. "I have made my decision for the chaser position. The new chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team will be ... Jason Fortescue!"

Jason was truly excited but mostly relieved. The tryouts were tougher than he thought they would be, and Alicia Spinnet sure gave him a run for his money. After shaking Wood's hand, he told Alicia that she did a great job and shook her hand as well, but Wood wasn't done talking yet.

"Additionally, Alicia Spinnet has made the team as a reserve player."


	9. Flying Lessons

"Congratulations Alica," Jason shook her hand once again.

"Thanks, I look forward to working with you," she replied.

All of the students that had been trying out left the quidditch pitch, turning in their borrowed brooms to Fred and George on their way out. Once the pitch had been cleared Wood called the Gryffindor team together. Wood explained that this season he's determined to win the Quidditch Cup, so he's expecting all of the team members to give their all in every match as well as training. He told them that he would let them all know when the first official team practice would take place after he figured out what they would do about a seeker. As Wood dismissed the team Fred and George approached Jason.

"Great show there Jason," Fred started.

"You showed them," George continued.

"No one could keep up with our little celebrity," finished Fred.

"I'm not a celebrity," Jason replied annoyed. "But thanks, I'm looking forward to playing with you guys." The twins each gave him a pat on the back and took the school broom back from him, making their way to return it to the broom closet.

"Congratulations Mr. Fortescue," The stern yet kind voice of Professor McGonagall sounded behind him. "Now that you are officially a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team you will be allowed to bring your broom to school. I would recommend you write home as soon as possible to have them send it."

"Thank you, Professor, I'll do that when I'm done with lessons today.

"Well then, you'd better get going, I believe you have a flying lesson starting soon," She smiled at him. "Not that you need it."

Jason rushed across the castle grounds heading for the wide-open lawn on the opposite side of the castle where flying lessons would be taking place. As he approached he could see two groups of people. One was standing on a flat portion of the lawn, and the other was approaching them from the castle. Recognizing Harry, Ron, and the other Gryffindor first years in the second group,he made his way towards them.

"How did it go?" Ron called out when he noticed Jason approaching.

"Good," Jason replied. "I made the team, but they weren't able to pick a new seeker." Jason's response was met with a chorus of congratulations from his fellow Gryffindor first-years. Ron was beaming, and Harry was wearing a broad smile.

"What happens next?" Harry asked. "What do they do about not being able to find a seeker?"

"They're gonna run another round of tryouts to try to find one."

Their group reached the waiting Slytherins who all seemed pretty upset at being kept waiting. Around the feet of the Slytherins were rows of brooms that they would be using for the lesson. Great, Jason thought to himself. More school brooms.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, gray hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" she barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Jason picked out a stable looking broom from the ones scattered on the ground and stood beside it. The broom looked more beaten up than the one he had used for tryouts, but it still looked to be one of the best of the bunch.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom," called Madam Hooch at the frog, "and say 'UP!'"

"UP!" everyone shouted.

Jason's broom immediately jumped into his hand, looking around he saw surprisingly few whose broom had done the same. Harry's was among the few who had gotten their broom on the first try. Among the Slytherins, only Malfoy and Silas had gotten their brooms. Looking around, Jason had seen that Ron's broom made it about halfway to his hand, whereas Hermione's broom had just turned over, and Neville's did not move at all. Jason could see why Neville wasn't able to get his broom to go to him, his voice was quavering, showing his fear of flying.

After a while, when everyone had gotten their brooms in hand, Madam Hooch showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, she then made her way around correcting their grips.

"That's a mighty strong grip there, Mr. Fortescue," Madam Hooch said when she came to check on him. "As would be expected, you know what you're doing. Additionally, congratulations on being the new chaser for the Gryffindor quidditch team. I look forward to seeing you play."

Malfoy's head snapped at her statements. He had spent most of the time since the notice about flying lessons went up bragging about his skills in quidditch and flying in general, so he wasn't too happy to hear that Jason would be the first first-year in centuries to make a house quidditch team. Malfoy looked especially upset when Madam Hooch adjusted his grip, telling him that he would fall off his broom with how loose he held his broomstick.

"Don't get too full of yourself," Malfoy whispered to Jason when Madam Hooch moved to correct Neville's grip. "That old hag doesn't know the first thing about flying, and I'm sure they're only letting you on the Gryffindor team to kiss up to your parents."

Jason, not falling for Malfoy's bait, didn't respond, causing Malfoy's pale complexion to go pink with anger. "Now you listen here," he began. "Don't act for a minute like-"

"Now, when I blow my whistle," Madam Hooch yelled to the class, interrupting Malfoy. "You kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your broom steady, rise a few feet, and then come straight back down by leaning forward slightly. On my whistle - three -two -"

The thought of flying was making Neville nervous and jumpy. Afraid of being the only one left on the ground, he pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" she shouted, but Neville continued to rise like a cork being shot out of a bottle. When Neville was about twenty feet above the ground, his panic overcame him and he forgot about his grip on the broom. Neville slipped sideways off the broom and -

WHAM - a thud and a nasty crack left Neville laying facedown on the grass. His broom continued to climb higher and higher, before starting to lazily drift toward the forbidden forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch rushed over to Neville and checked him for injuries. Both of their faces had turned completely white.

"Broken wrist," she muttered as she helped Neville to his feet. "I'll take you to the hospital wing."

She turned to the rest of the class.

"No one is to move while I take him! Leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch.' Come on, dear."

Neville, his face stained with tears, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

As soon as they were out of earshot Malfoy and his gang burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The rest of the Slytherins joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," snapped Parvati Patil, another Gryffindor.

"Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?" said Pansy Parkinson, a hard-faced Slytherin girl. "Do you like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

Malfoy shot forward and snatched something from the grass. "Look! It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

The Remembrall glittered in the sun as he held it up.

"Stop that Malfoy," Harry said quietly. "Give that here." Everyone's attention snapped to Harry.

A nasty smile spread across Malfoy's face.

"I'll just leave it somewhere he can find it. What do you think about the top of a tree?"

"Give it here!" Harry yelled, but Malfoy jumped on his broomstick and leapt into the air. Aside from his lazy grip, Jason could tell instantly that Malfoy wasn't completely lying about his flying ability. His speed and balance was evident as he darted towards the top of a nearby oak tree before anyone moved a muscle. "Come and get it, Potter!"

Harry grabbed his broom.

Jason also moved for his broom, but after a moment's thought, he decided to wait and see how Harry handles himself. Harry's father used to be Gryffindor's seeker, let's see if Harry inherited any of his father's flying skill Jason thought.

Hermione called out in protest, but Harry ignored her, mounting his broom and kicking off. Harry was a natural-born flyer. He soared up into the sky to an admiring whoop from Ron.

Harry turned to face Malfoy, who looked stunned at being shown up by someone he never imagined would be able to fly.

The two of them exchanged some words that Jason couldn't make out before Harry shot forwards towards Malfoy, who just barely managed to get out of the way. "He's trying to knock Malfoy off his broom," Jason laughed as the Gryffindors around him started to clap. "The absolute madman."

"Catch it if you can, then!" Jason could hear Malfoy shout before he threw the remembrall into the air and streaked back toward the ground.

Harry, without a moment's hesitation, nosedived after the ball. The onlookers shouted out in fear. A foot above the ground, Harry reached out and caught the ball, before pulling his broom straight, toppling gently onto the grass. Yup, Jason thought. He would make the perfect seeker.

Suddenly, his thoughts drifted back to the bullying problem that had been nagging him the whole day. Between his interactions with Malfoy at the start of class and Malfoy's reactions to Harry's flying, Jason was starting to figure out how to help Freddrick deal with Malfoy. His mind was racing with possibilities, but his brainstorming was cut short.

"HARRY POTTER!"

A scream cut through his train of thought. Looking around, Jason noticed Professor McGonagall rushing towards them. Harry got to his feet trembling.

"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock and fury, "How dare you - you could have broken your neck -"

Jason, Ron, and Pavarti all tried to explain the situation to Professor McGonagall, but she wouldn't hear a word of it.

"Professor, please let us explain," Jason pleaded with her.

"That's enough, Mr. Fortescue. Potter follow me, now. You too Fortescue. I'd like a word with you"

"Wait Professor," Harry spoke up. "Jason had nothing to do with this."

"That's up to me to decide," Professor McGonagall snapped at Harry, before making her way back to the castle with the two of them in tow.

The last thing Jason saw when he looked back was the triumphant looks on Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's faces, but the thing that surprised him the most was Silas. He didn't look triumphant, or as if he was enjoying himself. Instead, Silas' face looked rather melancholy. I wonder what that's about, Jason thought to himself.


	10. Confrontation

Professor McGonagall led them back to the castle without a word. She swept along in front of them without saying a word. They climbed the front stairs into the entrance hall and went up the marble staircase inside. Professor McGonagall was walking so fast that Jason and Harry had to jog to keep up. Jason was nervous seeing Professor McGonagall's mood, but he was sure everything would be alright once they had the chance to explain what happened to her. On the other hand, Harry was visibly panicked, every step he took was shaky, looking like he was gonna fall over.

Eventually, Professor McGonagall stopped outside of the charms classroom. What are we doing here? Jason thought. She opened the door and poked her head inside.

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, could I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Looks like we had the same idea.

Professor Flitwick nodded his approval, and Oliver Wood stood up from his seat, joining them in the corridor. With a confused look on his face Wood nodded a greeting to Jason before staring curiously at Harry.

"Follow me, you three," said Professor McGonagall, as she marched up the corridor.

"What's this about?" Wood whispered to Jason as they walked.

"You'll find out soon," Jason replied with a grin.

"In here," Professor McGonagall interrupted them as she ushered the three of them into an empty classroom.

Once they all entered the room Professor McGonagall slammed the door shut behind them and turned to face the boys.

"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, I think Fortescue would agree with me when I say, I've found you a seeker."

The curiosity of Wood's face was replaced with pure delight.

"Are you serious, Professor?"

"Absolutely," said Professor McGonagall crisply. "You saw it too, right Fortescue?"

"He was a natural," Jason responded. "He had great broom control and was as fast as they come, and this was only his first time one a broom. Right, Harry?"

Harry nodded silently. He clearly had no clue what was going on, but he realized that he wasn't in trouble, so he looked relieved.

"He caught that thing in his hand after a fifty-foot dive," Professor McGonagall told Wood. "Not a scratch on him. I doubt even Charlie Weasley could have pulled it off."

"Ever seen a game of Quidditch, Potter?" Wood asked excitedly to Harry's confusion.

"Wood's captain of the Gryffindor team," Jason explained.

At this point Wood began to circle Harry, checking him up and down. "He's got a nice build for a seeker, but he'll need a decent broom, Professor - maybe a Cleansweep Seven."

"I think a Nimbus Two thousand would probably work best for him," Jason commented.

"He'll need to train hard," Professor McGonagall said, peering over her glasses at Harry. "Or else I may change my mind about punishing him."

Then she suddenly smiled.

"Your father would have been proud," she told Harry. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself."

"That's amazing!" Ron shouted, dropping his forkful of meat pie.

Jason, Harry, and Ron were all having dinner in the great hall. After their conversation with Professor McGonagall, Jason, Harry, and Wood had spent some time talking logistics and giving Harry an in-depth explanation of quidditch. With the Gryffindor team's lineup finished, Wood scheduled their first practice for next week and went off to inform the other team members, leaving Jason and Harry to meet up with Ron.

"Don't tell anyone," Harry told Ron. "Wood wants to keep the fact that I'll be the seeker a secret until our first match."

"None of the people who tried out for seeker were any good," Jason added. "I'm sure the other teams took notice of that and won't be expecting much, so when you come out and show off your skills we'll have the upper hand."

A moment later, Fred and George entered the great hall. After a scan of the room, they noticed Harry and hurried over.

"Well done," George whispered. "Wood told us."

"I tell you, we're going to win that Quidditch Cup for sure this year," said Fred. "This will be the first time since Charlie left. Wood is so excited, you must be good, Harry."

"We've got to go, Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school."

"Bet it's the one we found in our first week. See you."

As Fred and George took their leave, Jason noticed Frederick making his way out of the great hall. By himself, as usual, Jason thought. I should try talking to him at least one more time before I take action.

"I'm gonna head out too," Jason blurted out. He got up and rushed after Frederick, ignoring Harry and Ron's questions at his sudden departure.

"I finally found you," Jason said, as he opened the door to an empty classroom he had seen Freddrick enter. "We need to talk."

"I'm not in the mood," Frederick responded, attempting to walk past Jason and back through the door. Jason quickly pulled the door shut behind him, placing himself in between it and Frederick. Seeing that there was no escape, Frederick sat in the nearest chair. "Fine, but make it quick."

"I have a plan for getting Malfoy and his goons to leave you alone and I'm going through with it, even if you don't want me to, but I'd prefer if you agreed to let me do this."

"Just leave me alone! Don't you understand! I don't want your or anyone else's pity!"

"Pity has nothing to do with this. I can't just stand by and watch someone get bullied like this day after day. Malfoy and his goons bully a lot of people but in my opinion, they take it too far when it comes to you and I'm gonna make them stop."

"That's not what I want," Frederick's voice grew very quiet and his hands shot up to cover his face.

"Why?" Jason asked, unable to hide the frustration in his voice. "Why do you want to be bullied!?"

"I don't want to-"

"Then why won't you stand up for yourself or let me help?"

"BECAUSE IF THEY DON'T HAVE ME TO BULLY THEN THEY'D TURN ON QUINN!!" Frederick shouted. His shout took Jason by surprise, causing him to stop talking. After taking a moment to collect himself, Frederick continued. "Quinn and I have been friends for a long time, but his parents never approved. The Silas and Malfoy families have always been close, and they never understood why he would be friends with me when he could be friends with someone like Draco Malfoy. Ever since Malfoy found Quinn sitting with me on the train, I've been their target as a way to test Quinn and see if he has let our friendship go. If I stand up for myself, or someone makes them leave me alone, then Quinn has no way to prove himself to them."

Jason walked over and put his hand on Frederick's shoulder. "I understand what you're saying, but-"

"Do you really think I need you to prove myself." They were interrupted as the door flew open to reveal Quinn Silas. "You're not a test, you're pathetic. What we do isn't a test for me to prove myself. It's making up for my own stupidity of ever allowing myself to be your friend."

"Stop it!" Jason shouted at Silas.

"Or what? You're gonna make me," Silas threatened back.

"I will if I have to," Jason responded confidently, reaching for his wand.

"Fine then, we'll have a duel. If you win then we'll stop bullying Frederick," Silas proposed. "But when I win, then we'll bully both you and him from now on."

"You're on," Jason replied.

"I'll see you Sunday at noon, on the field where we had flying lessons today." Silas stormed out of the room as quickly as he had entered it.

"What have you done?" Frederick asked as soon as Silas was gone. "Now things will only get worse."

"No, they won't. I won't let them," Jason said. Frederick just shook his head and left the classroom closing the door behind himself.

What should I do? Jason asked himself. I've never actually had a duel before, I don't even know any offensive spells.

As he stood there deep in thought, Jason never heard the footsteps echoing down the corridor, or the door to the classroom being opened and closed once more.

"I trust you know that unsanctioned duels are strictly prohibited." Jason turned around to see Professor Flitwick standing by the door.

"Professor, I -"

"Before you say anything, I would have you know that I heard everything since you and Mr. Diggory entered this room, so there's no use in lying."

"What should I do Professor?" Jason asked. Professor Flitwick opened his mouth, but then closed it again. He indicated for Jason to take a seat in a nearby chair and then sat next to Jason.

"I know your heart is in the right place and you just want to help Mr. Diggory," Flitwick began. "But you have been too rash. Besides it being against school rules, I'm sure that Mr. Silas knows at least one offensive spell considering he challenged you to a duel. You have a talent for charms and are one of my top students, but I doubt you could win without knowing any offensive spells. If anything you should have, and still should, seek a peaceful solution. Try to negotiate with him."

"It's useless, he won't listen."  
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't at least try. A duel should be your last solution, not your first."

"Ok, I'll try to talk things out," Jason conceded. "But what if it doesn't work and he attacks me?"

"Then you will have to defend yourself," Professor Flitwick smiled. "Self-defense is different from a duel, and I'll teach you how to do it."

Jason followed Professor Flitwick to the charms classroom, where Flitwick started to teach him how to duel etiquette as well as an offensive and a defensive spell. Professor Flitwick knew a lot about dueling and when Jason asked him about it Flitwick explained that he used to be a professional duelist and has one many dueling competitions in his day.

After a few hours of practice, Professor Flitwick told Jason that they would train more every night after dinner until Sunday, giving Jason two more nights of practice. Professor Flitwick told Jason that he had to go, but let Jason practice a little while longer, warning him to not take too long, as it was close to curfew.

Despite Flitwick's warning, Jason lost track of time and ended up practicing well into the night. Finally, a noise outside of the classroom broke his concentration and alerted him to the time. It's past midnight, I have to get back to Gryffindor tower before I'm found.

As Jason pulled open the classroom door he was greeted by an unusual sight. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville, the first three all wearing bathrobes, were all standing outside the room staring at Peeves across the corridor from them.

"Umm, what's going on?" Jason asked.

"No time to explain, come on," Hermione answered him, as she and Ron both grabbed one of his hands and dragged him behind them.

Peeves started to shout about students being out of bed as they scrambled towards a door. Harry tried to pull the door open, but it was locked. Hermione grabbed Harry's wand out of his hand and tapped the door, whispering "Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and she swung the door open, allowing them all to enter before pulling the door closed. A moment after the door closed, Jason heard Mr. Filch arrive in the corridor outside and begin interrogating Peeves, but Peeves just used it as a chance to annoy him. As they all listened, scared that Peeves would give them away, Jason heard a noise that made his heart skip a beat.

A chorus of three growls rang out from behind them.


	11. The Duel

Jason turned around slowly with fear coursing through his veins. He hadn't really paid attention to where they were going when Hermione and Ron dragged him after the running group, but now as Jason turned around he realized something. The door they had gone through didn't lead to a room, it leads to a corridor. The forbidden corridor on the third floor. Standing there now, Jason understood why it was forbidden.

In the corridor behind them stood a giant monstrous dog. The first thing Jason noticed about the dog was its size. The dog stood filling the entire corridor and touching the ceiling. The next thing he noticed was arguably more terrifying. The dog had three heads. Three pairs of monstrous eyes; three noses; three mouths filled with large yellowish teeth.

The dog stood, all three pairs of eyes fixed on them, with its three heads each producing a low growl. The dog stood rather still, and Jason realized the only reason it hadn't attacked yet was their sudden appearance had shocked the dog, but judging by the growls its heads were giving off, that shock was wearing off.

Besides him, Jason could see Harry searching for the door handle. Once he found it, the five of them fell backward through the door and on to the cold hard floor. Jumping into action, Jason and Harry got up and slammed the corridor door closed, just as the three-headed dog lunged forward. Once the door was closed, the five of them began to run towards Gryffindor tower. Filch must have moved on just before they exited the forbidden corridor because he was nowhere in sight, but they hardly cared - all they wanted to do was put as much space between them and the three-headed dog as possible. The five of them didn't slow down until they reached the portrait of the fat lady, who looked at them in shock.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked, looking at the state of them. Jason and Nevile's clothes were all disheveled, and Nevile had a rip on his pant leg from when they fell. On the other hand, Harry, Ron, and Hermione's bathrobes were falling off their shoulders. All of them were coated in sweat and still had a terrified look on their faces.

"Never mind that - pig snout, pig snout," Harry gave her the password and the portrait swung forward. Once they all clambered through the opening, the group all fell into armchairs, trembling.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" Ron asked, breaking a long silence that had settled around them. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" Hermione snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry snapped back. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

Jason took a moment to think back at the scene. "A trapdoor," He realized. "The dog, it was guarding something."

"Exactly," Hermione responded. She then turned to address Harry and Ron. "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

"No, we don't mind," Ron said once she left. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

"I don't know about her, but you did drag me along," Jason spoke up. "Why don't you explain to me what was going on, and why you all were out at this time of night? But do it tomorrow. All I can think about right now is my bed."

The next morning at breakfast Harry and Ron told Jason about what they were doing the previous night. Apparently Malfoy had challenged Harry to a duel at midnight, and instead of showing up had told Mr. Filch where to find them.

"So why were you out last night?" Harry asked curiously once Ron had finished filing Jason in.

Jason wasn't sure what to say. Hearing what happened to Harry and Ron, he wasn't sure if he could trust Silas to show up on Thursday. No, even if it's a trap I have to show up, but if it is a trap I don't want to pull Harry and Ron into it.

"I got in trouble with Professor Flitwick," Jason lied. "He caught me trying to pull a prank and made me clean the entire charms room. I wasn't allowed to leave the room until I finished. I had just finished when I ran into you guys."

"Looks like you have terrible timing," Ron laughed. Further down the table, Hermione slammed a book she was reading shut and stormed out of the great hall.

"I think she's still mad at us," Harry remarked while watching her leave.

Friday and Saturday went by very quickly. During the day he attended lessons and at night he trained with Professor Flitwick. All the hours in between were spent trying to figure out how to end things peacefully with Silas. He wanted to get more information about Silas from Frederick, but that wouldn't work out. Jason hardly saw Frederick, every time he noticed Jason coming, Frederick would walk the other way. Finally, Sunday had arrived.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hermione stopped Jason as he snuck out of the Gryffindor common room. "You'd better not be causing any trouble like your two idiot friends over there did." She pointed at where Harry and Ron sat in armchairs struggling with their homework.

"I'd do no such thing," he replied. "I just have an appointment with Professor Flitwick."

"Just an appointment with Flitwick? Really?" she questioned.

"Yes, I promise," he lied. Before she had the chance to respond Jason quickly made his way out of the common room and headed for the Charms classroom. When Jason arrived Professor Flitwick was already waiting for him.

"How are you feeling?" Flitwick asked Jason as he opened the door.

"To be honest," Jason replied. "I'm nervous. I don't know if I can end this peacefully. It would be easier to just accept the duel."

Professor Flitwick looked up at him. "The easy thing and the right thing are hardly ever the same," Flitwick told him. "But also remember, you can only reach out to someone as far as they are willing to accept. Just do everything you can do. If the worst comes and he attacks, then do what you have to do."

"Thank you, Professor," Jason said with a new resolve.

"That being said," Professor Flitwick added. "I am planning on doing an inspection of the field where you had flying practice at around twelve-thirty today. I would hope that no one is out there breaking any school rules at that time."

"Oh don't worry," Jason grinned at Professor Flitwick. "I'm not planning on breaking any school rules ... not today at least."

"Oh would you look at the time," Flitwick said. "I believe you have an appointment soon. You should get going, Mr. Fortescue."

Jason nodded his head. "Thank you, I'll see you in class Professor."

On his way out of the castle, Jason felt much better than he did in the morning, but he was still nervous. Can I really talk him out of this? What if he isn't even there? What if this is a setup? These worries ate at him as he made his way to the field. No, it doesn't matter. I'm not doing this for me, so I have to do it right.

When he approached the field, Jason saw Silas waiting for him. He wasn't alone. Standing across from Silas was Frederick.

"Please don't do this," Frederick begged Silas. "I don't have a problem, bully me all you want, just stop this now."

Silas just stood there quietly, as if Frederick wasn't even there. "You're finally here," he said when he noticed Jason approaching. "Let's get this started."

"Wait!" Jason shouted as Silas pulled out his wand. "Before anything happens, I want to talk to you."

"And who says I want to talk to you?" Silas snapped.

"We can end this without any fighting"

"You agreed to the duel, so cut the talk and raise your wand."

"No, just listen to me first."

"Please Silas!" Frederick cut in. "Just stop it!"

"You stay out of this!" Silas yelled.

"Just put your wand down and let's talk," Jason pleaded with Silas.

"Please, listen to him." Frederick approached Silas. "Just put your wand down."

"Stay away from me!" Silas shouted, aiming his wand at Frederick.

Frederick didn't back down. Instead, he continued to slowly approach Silas. "Come on, for old times sake, let's not do this." Frederick smiled at Silas.

"FLIPENDO!" Silas shouted with the wave of his wand. His knockback charm hit Frederick square in the chest. Frederick flew back several feet and landed sprawled on the floor behind Jason. Silas immediately pointed his wand at Jason. "We'll start the duel now! Flipendo!"

Before Jason even knew what he was doing, he had pulled his wand out. Acting completely on instinct, he cast one of the spells Professor Flitwick had taught him. "Protego!"

Jason cast the shielding spell, creating an invisible barrier between him and Silas, deflecting Silas' spell. Silas was shocked when Jason shielded himself from the spell, but quickly recovered and began to cast the knockback charm again.

Before Silas could finish his spell, Jason used the other spell Professor Flitwick had taught him. "Expelliarmus!"

Jason's disarming charm caused Silas' wand to leap out of his hand, landing on the ground a few feet away. Silas looked at his hand in utter shock.

"It's over," Jason said as he lowered his wand and put it away. Seeing that Silas was still just standing there in shock, Jason turned to check on Frederick.

Frederick was still laying on the ground, but he had propped himself up on his elbows and was watching the duel. "How did you do that?" Frederick asked.

"I had a good teacher," Jason smiled at him. "Come on, get up. Lets -"

"Just what do you three think you are doing!" a voice cut him off, commanding all of their attention.

Even without looking, Jason knew the owner of the voice. It was Professor Snape.


	12. Halloween

Professor Snape was furious, threatening to take away one hundred house points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor due to Frederick and Jason "ganging up" on Silas. Snape had just finished informing Frederick and Jason that he planned to have them expelled when Professor Flitwick arrived on the scene. Flitwick spoke in private with Snape, and when they returned Snape seemed to have calmed down.

"Now that we've all calmed down a bit, why don't you three explain what happened here?" Professor Flitwick asked.

Surprisingly, Frederick was the first to start talking. "It's all my fault Professors," he said. "I wanted to learn how to duel, I know that dueling isn't allowed on campus but I really wanted to learn, so I asked Jason and Silas to teach me. We were just doing practice matches."

From the look in his eyes, Professor Snape didn't believe Frederick's story at all. "I would recommend you try again," Snape said coldly. "If I hear another lie then the consequences will be severe."

Jason began to talk. "What happened was-"

"It's my fault," Silas cut him off. "I challenged them to a duel. Frederick and Jason tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't listen and hit Frederick with a spell. When I started to cast at Jason he defended himself and disarmed me. That's everything that happened."

"Silas, Fortescue," Snape seemed to accept Silas' confession. "The two of you will be serving detention with me every night until I decide otherwise. All three of you will also lose fifty house points."

"Professor Snape," Flitwick started. "Perhaps that is a little harsh. Can't we come to a lighter punishment? Mr. Diggory did nothing wrong, and Mr. Fortescue was just defending himself. Mr. Silas also admitted he was in the wrong. That shows great personal character."

Snape considered for a minute. "Silas, Fortescue you will still serve detention. Unsanctioned duels are strictly forbidden and you will not go unpunished, but none of you will lose house points. All of you are to return to your dormitories for the rest of the day. That is my final word."

"Come on boys," Flitwick addressed them. "Let's get you all back to the castle and cleaned up."

As the three boys passed Professor Snape and followed Professor Flitwick to the castle, Snape had one more thing to say. "Filius. It is rather strange that a first-year such as Mr. Fortescue would be so proficient in both the shielding and disarming charms. Those are both rather difficult, I know of quite a few Hogwarts graduates that can't cast either of those spells. If one didn't know any better, one would think that he had lessons from a professional duelist. What do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Professor Flitwick grinned behind Snape's back. "One might think that, but one might also wonder where Mr. Fortesuce would find such a duelist willing to teach him. He's a bright young lad. Maybe he learned them himself?"

The days passed by quickly following Jason's duel with Silas. The most exciting thing to happen to Jason after the duel occurred the day after it when his broom arrived from home. Jason flew a Nimbus 1700 that Grandpa Richard had bought for him when his junior league quidditch team had made it to nationals. The Nimbus 1700 used to be the top broom on the market until the Nimbus company came out with the Nimbus 2000. The same model of broom that Professor McGonagall had gotten for Harry. As quidditch practice got into full swing, Jason was feeling very excited over the prospect of a new quidditch season. The only thing to dull his excitement was detention with Snape.

Jason and Silas spent every night cleaning the potions room and organizing the potions storeroom until Snape was satisfied. The process would take long into the night, even some nights passing curfew as Snape was hardly ever satisfied. On the first Saturday of Jason's detention, he went into the potions room excited since the room wasn't in use that day and wouldn't need to be cleaned. Jason was sorely mistaken, as Snape with a cruel grin and the flick of his wand sent the chairs in the room flying, covered the floors and tables with dirt, and sent all of the neatly organized ingredients that Jason had spent hours organizing the night before, scattering around the room. Snape became increasingly harsh on Jason on nights before quidditch practice, having Jason work into the early morning hours, long after Silas had been allowed to leave, to ensure he was exhausted during practice the next day.

Probably the worst part of detention was that he was serving it with Silas. Jason tried to talk with Silas almost every night of the first week, but when Silas refused to even grunt a response Jason gave up. They spent their detention together in dead silence, except for the occasional critiques by Snape when he decided something wasn't clean enough.

After a few weeks of spending his nights serving detention with Snape and Silas, Jason excitedly woke up on a day he had been anticipating: Halloween. There were many reasons why Jason was excited for Halloween. The first was that in charms class today they were finally going to learn the levitation charm. The second was that he had heard from upperclassmen that the Halloween feast was always amazing. The last, and best reason to look forward to Halloween, was that Snape had told Jason and Silas the night before that Halloween would be their last night of detention.

In charms, Flitwick put them to work in pairs practicing the levitation charm with a feather. Jason's partner was Dean Thomas, and Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan. Their pairs seemed like they would work out much better than some of the others. Neville was unfortunately paired with Edgar Allen and was left helplessly listening to another of Edgar's nonsensical stories. The worst pairing by far was Ron and Hermione who hadn't spoken to each other in weeks and didn't seem too keen on starting now.

"Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practicing!" Professor Flitwick reminded them. "Swish and flick, and remember saying the words properly is very important as well."

Everyone struggled with this lesson as they tried to send their feathers into the air. Jason and Dean decided to take it slow, going over their notes on the levitation charm before starting. Some pairs did the same, but others jumped right into trying to make the feather fly and were getting nowhere. One such group was Harry and Seamus, the latter of which at one point poked the feather with his wand causing it to erupt into flames. As Harry managed to put out the fire things only got worse between Ron and Hermione.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron shouted while waving his arms in the air like a windmill.

"You're saying it wrong," Hermione snapped at him. "It's Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar; nice and long."

"You do it, then, if you're so clever," Ron snarled at her.

Hermione smirked as she rolled up her sleeve and pointed her wand at the feather. She flicked her wand, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Their feather floated off the table and hovered about four feet above their heads. Professor Flitwick showered her with praise and told everyone to look at her floating feather.

Jason and Dean both seceded in raising their feather not long after Hermione and were followed by many of their classmates. Ron never managed to get the charm to work.

Ron was in a very bad mood by the end of the class.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ron told Harry and Jason as they left class. "She's a nightmare, honestly."

Someone pushed their way between Jason and Harry as they walked. It was Hermione. Jason only saw her face for a second, but he could see tears welling up in her eyes.

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"You're in the wrong here," Jason told Ron. "I'm gonna go check on her." Jason ran up ahead but was stopped by the sudden appearance of Silas.

"Professor Snape wants me to tell you that we're to report to the potions room at the start of dinner for detention tonight."

Great, Jason thought to himself. Today isn't turning out anything like I hoped.

Hermione didn't show up to the rest of the classes that day. As everyone else headed to the great hall for the Halloween feast, Jason made his way down to the dungeons. As he opened the door to the potions room, Jason's mind was racing thinking about what happened with Hermione and Ron after Charms class, but all of those thoughts were thrown his mind when he entered the potions room.

For their last day of detention, Snape must have decided to pull out all of the stops. Every inch of the room was covered in dirt. The furniture was thrown all over the room and all of the ingredients from the classroom, the potions storeroom, and Snape's personal storeroom were scattered around the room.

Snape stood scowling at Jason, overlooking the mess Jason and Silas were to clean up.

"Welcome Mr. Fortescue," Snape drawled as Jason entered the room. "I hope you weren't looking forward to the feast tonight, because I doubt you will make it in time." Sape walked past Jason and opened the door. "I'm going to head the feast now. I trust that you will pass on to Mr. Silas that I expect this room to be spotless by the time the feast is over."

With that Snape made his way out of the room. Jason got to work on cleaning the room, starting with arranging and polishing the vials the potion ingredients were kept in. A few minutes later Silas entered the room.

"He said he wants this all cleaned up by the time the feast is over.

Silas said nothing and instead got right to cleaning.

After about half an hour of cleaning something strange happened. Jason could hear a low voice front the corridor outside of the room.

"Do you hear that too?" Jason asked Silas.

"Hear what?" Silas responded to Jason's surprise.

"I don't know, it sounded like a voice."

"I heard something, but I'm not sure it was a voice."

They went back to work, but not much later a loud bang rang out.

"That was no voice," Silas said. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know," Jason replied, shocked at how talkative Silas was being. "Should we take a look?"

"Yeah, I think we should, but not for long. Professor Snape will be mad if we don't finish this on time."

The two boys left the room and walked with their wands out towards the noise. Eventually, they reached a corridor where the noise was loudest. The sound seemed to be getting closer to them, and the floor shook with each sounding.

Jason and Silas made eye contact, both seemingly realizing what the noise was. Those are footfalls.

The two of them both raised their wands and called out "Lumos."

A soft light shined out from the tip of both of their wands. As the light filled the corridor in front of them, a horrible sight was revealed.

Directly before them, stood a troll.


	13. A Dangerous Encounter

The troll stood twelve feet tall with gray skin that looked like dull granite. Its massive body looked like a large boulder with a small head perched on top. The troll stood on two short legs that were as thick as tree trunks and with flat, horny feet. In one of its hands, it held a large wooden club that it dragged behind itself as it walked.

Jason and Silas both stood there in terror for a moment, until Jason realized through the shock that the troll was standing facing the other direction and had not noticed them yet. Fear coarse through Jason's veins, making his limbs feel like they were made of stone, but he knew they could not stay there. It took all of his efforts, but Jason managed to grab on to Silas' arm and start to quietly pull the other boy back down the corridor away from the troll. Silas was not faring any better than Jason and pulling him along was like trying to move a bag of bricks. Even as he allowed himself to be pulled away, Silas was stiff as a board and continued to watch the troll.

They hadn't made it thirty paces away when Silas suddenly pulled on the arm of Jason's robes causing him to look back. The troll must have noticed the light that their wands gave off, and was in the process of turning around to look for its source.

"Nox!" both boys whispered as they extinguished the light on their wands, but it was already too late. The troll had noticed them and in the dark, they could hear its thundering footfalls as it approached the two boys.

"Run!" Silas shouted as the two boys took off sprinting down the corridor. Not a moment after they had started to run a loud crash rang out, as the troll swung its club and hit the spot where they had been standing. The troll then let out a deafening roar. The stink of its breath hit them in the back like a wall, and the strength of the roar put out the torches throughout the corridor they were in.

As they ran through the darkened dungeons, the two boys could hear the trolls pace increasing, as the thunderous footfalls landed closer and closer together. In the dark, they could not see where they were, but the troll sounded like it was right on top of them and Jason knew that if they didn't get away from it soon they would be crushed. With only a vague idea where they were, Jason grabbed the back of Silas' robes and jumped to the left out of the troll's path.

Jason's gamble paid off and they slid through the entryway to another corridor with the troll passing them. A few seconds later they could hear the loud thud as the troll rammed full force into the wall at the end of the corridor they had just left.

"We have to get out of here before it gets back up," Jason said as he helped Silas off the floor. Once they were both on their feet the two boys once again took off running down the corridor.

They felt like they were in circles as they took turn after turn trying to put as much space between themselves and the troll as possible. The rest of the lights in the dungeon seemed to have gone out at some point, but they were too afraid that by igniting their wands again they would lead the troll right to them.

After a while of running, Silas grabbed Jason's arm once again and pulled him to the side. "We should try to find a room to hide in," Silas advised. "If we keep running in circles we might run into it again."

Jason nodded his agreement and the two of them felt along the walls until they felt a door. Once inside the room, both boys fell to the floor gasping for breath.

"How could a troll get into the castle?" Silas whispered, breaking the silence that had settled around them.

"I don't know," Jason whispered back. "And honestly I don't care. I just want to find a way out of here."

"I'm not sure where exactly we are, but if we can find out I should be able to get us to the Slytherin common room, but you're not allowed in there so that probably isn't a good idea."

"We can try to get to the stairs back to the entrance hall."

"Yeah we could, maybe we should just wait. Snape said he'd come for us at the end of the feast. When he comes he'd be able to tell something is wrong and he'd gather the teachers to deal with the troll. Then with the ghosts help they'd find us pretty easily."

Jason wasn't too keen on waiting in the dark with the troll so near, but he didn't like the idea of taking their chances wandering in the dark again and risking running into the troll.

"I think you're right," Jason whispered back after some time. "It's probably better to stay put than go back out there."

Jason and Silas spent some time quietly examining the room to try to determine where exactly they were. The room was very small and while fumbling in the dark, Jason came across some mops and buckets. He came to the conclusion that they were in a supply closet that Flich uses to store cleaning materials letting him know where they were. Silas didn't agree. He pointed out that there are many supply closets spread throughout the dungeons, once again leaving them unsure of where they actually were.

After giving up on figuring out where the room they were in was, the two of them sat down and waited for the teachers to find them. After about a minute, Jason's nerves started to get to him, and he started up a nervous habit he had thought he had broken years ago. Placing his left hand on his chin, he rubbed his thumb across the small scar that ran horizontally across his chin.

"I've been wondering for a while now," Silas whispered in the dark. "How did you ever get that scar on your cheek?" he asked as if he could see what Jason was doing in the dark.

"Oh this," Jason whispered back. "Well, it's quite a story. When I was about -"

The troll's footsteps boomed in the corridor outside the room they were hiding in, causing both boys to silently jump to their feet. It has only been about five minutes since they entered the room, but the troll already seemed to have caught up with them. The ground shook with each footstep, as the troll drew nearer. Jason started to slowly inch backward, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see Silas was doing it as well.

The room started to shake as the troll drew even closer. The banging of the troll's feet on the floor was amplified in the small stone room. When the noise reached its peak, Jason knew the troll was just outside the door. The troll stopped right outside of the door. Oh no! Jason froze. Can it smell us? Does it know we're in here?

Jason stopped inching backward, and stood stone still, too scared to even breathe. A moment passed in complete silence. Each second seemed to be drawn out to hours.

Another footfall slammed against the floor as the troll started to pass the room they hid in. Jason let out a silent breath, starting to relax. We're safe, it's not going to find us.

A loud crash sounded from beside Jason making his heart skip a beat. In the dark, he could just barely make out Silas on the floor covered in mops and buckets. He must have tripped over them while inching towards the back of the room.

Everything was quiet for a moment when suddenly the door slammed open in time with a loud roar. Silas scrambled to his feet as the troll's arm reached into the room slamming against the floor and side walls as it reached towards where Silas had fallen. The troll's hand trapped Silas in the corner of the room as it reached towards him. The troll's thick fingers started to close around Silas' body.

Without even thinking about it, Jason picked up a mop from where it had fallen and raised it into the air above his head. With all his strength, Jason brought the mop down on the troll's arm in an attempt to free Silas. The mop handle broke as soon as it came into contact with the troll's rock-hard skin. Before he had a chance to move, the troll slammed its arm into Jason, knocking the breath out of his lungs and pinning him to the wall.

The troll slowly removed its arm from the doorway, leaving Jason to fall to the ground gasping for air. From where he fell, Jason could see out the door. The troll slowly kneeled down, bringing its head low to the floor to peer into the room.

The world around him seemed to move in slow motion as Jason watched the troll's head inching slowly towards the ground to look into the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Silas still frozen where the troll had cornered him. Even as Jason gasped for air, his mind was racing, searching for a way out of this mess. He knew that if he didn't do anything, both Silas and he would die.

Jason's mind slowed down as his consciousness started to drift away. His eyelids grew heavy and he could barely keep his eyes open. Without even knowing he was doing it, Jason's hand drifted to his wand and pointed it at the doorway. When the troll's eyes passed the top of the doorway, allowing it to see into the room, Jason's mind was filled with two words. Do it, a voice whispered inside of his head. This is your only chance of survival. Jason fought to push the words out of his mouth, even as the air he breathed in pushed them back down. Finally, in a weak voice, barely more than a whisper, he pushed the words free.

"LUMOS MAXIMA!"

A bright cone of light shot out of the tip of his wand directly into the troll's eyes. The troll screamed in agony as it was blinded. It quickly got to its feet and ran away.

Jason's wand fell from his grasp. His eyes finally slid shut, engulfing him in darkness.

Silas came back to himself once the troll had run away. "You did it," he said to Jason. "You scared it off." With the light from Jason's wand gone, the room was once again filled with darkness. Silas lit his wand and was greeted with a horrifying sight.

Jason lying unconscious in the center of the small room, the back of his robes ripped to shreds from when the troll slammed him against the wall. He must have hit his head when he fell to the floor and a small puddle of blood was forming around it. I can't risk waiting around and the troll coming back, Silas thought. I have to get him to the hospital wing now.

Silas propped Jason up against the wall. Kneeling next to Jason, Silas placed Jason's arm around his shoulder. Grabbing Jason around the waist, Silas lifted him up. With his wand held high in one hand, Silas half carried, half dragged the unconscious boy through the dungeons searching for an exit.

He walked for a while when suddenly Silas heard footsteps ahead of him. A glowing ball of light rounded the corner ahead of him. Not far behind the ball of light, Professor Dumbledor and Professor Flitwick stepped into the corridor.


	14. Aftermath

Two weeks after the incident with the troll, Jason woke up in the hospital wing. Within minutes of being awake, Madam Pomfrey, the school matron, was at his side. After giving him a quick checkup, she told him to rest and when he opened his eye next Professor Dumbledor was at his side. Dumbledor told him that after his encounter with the troll, Jason was knocked unconscious. When Professor Dumbledore arrived to deal with the troll he found Silas dragging Jason out of the dungeons. Professor Dumbledor told Jason that Silas was ok and had been one of a few daily visitors Jason had.

On a more disturbing note, Professor Dumbledor told Jason that after he scared off the troll it made its way out of the dungeons and ended up attacking Hermione, but Harry and Ron saved her before anything bad could happen. "No one blames you for driving the Troll from the dungeon," Professor Dumbledore said as he left the hospital wing. "Your actions saved the lives of not only yourself but also young Mr. Silas. In fact, I see it fit to reward you with ten house points for your bravery and for standing up to protect a fellow student."

Madam Pomfrey kept him for a few more days, but she wouldn't allow any visitors during that time so when she finally gave him the all-clear to leave the hospital wing he was excited to be able to see other people again.

It wasn't until after dinner when Jason finally made his way back to the Gryffindor Commonroom, and he was utterly shocked to see that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all waiting up for him. He was even more shocked to see the three of them getting along. After a quick telling of the events of his battle with the troll in the dungeons, Hermione told Jason about what happened with their encounter with the troll.

"You lied to the professors?" Jason asked in shock when she finished talking. "What's next? Is Ron gonna start doing his homework?"

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed as Harry laughed.

"No, I don't think anything could make that happen," Hermione laughed, she took on a more serious tone. "I couldn't just let them get in trouble. Not after they saved my life."

"Speaking of homework," Harry said, turning to Hermoine. "You should give it to him now. Better to just get it over with."

Hermione picked up a large stack of papers that had been on the floor next to the chair she was sitting in. "This is all the work you've missed since Halloween," she passed the stack to him. "I'd recommend you start with the potions assignments, Professor Snape heard you were being released today and said that he's expecting it done by Friday night. Today's Wednesday, so that gives you only two days to do it. The rest of the professors said you could turn their work in by next Sunday."

The joy that Jason had started to feel since being released from the Hospital Wing started to fade.

"Don't worry, we'll all help you with it," Hermione said when she saw how upset Jason looked. "Also here's one more thing," she pulled out a much smaller pile. "Your owl has been delivering your mail to us. You got daily letters from your grandfather."

"Mum and Ginny both wrote you letters too," Ron added.

"But that's not everything," Harry spoke up. "Our first quidditch match against Slytherin is this Saturday. Even if the professors are giving you until next Sunday to finish your assignments, you won't be able to play if you don't finish them before the match."

"Great," Jason sighed. "Would Wood even let me play anyway? I've missed the last two and a half weeks' worth of practices."

"I don't know," Harry replied. "I think he would. He kept talking about how he hoped you would be released before the match. Right now Alicia is supposed to be taking you place in the match, but if you're able to play Wood might let you have your spot back."

"Well we won't know until you talk to Wood now would we?" Ron jumped into the conversation. "Don't worry about it now and talk to him tomorrow."

"If we're gonna make sure you're able to play, we should get working on the assignments you've missed," Hermione added. "It's not too late now, if we're willing to work late tonight we might even be able to get through all of your potions assignments and a good chunk of your transfigurations work too."

"Just imagine the look on Old Snape's face if you turn in all that work tomorrow," Ron laughed. "I bet he'd go beet red."

"Thanks, guys," Jason looked at each of his friends in the eyes. "Well then, let's get to work."

"He tried to get past the three-headed dog at Halloween!" Harry told Jason, Ron, and Hermione in a low whisper. Earlier in the day, Snape had confiscated the book Quidditch Through the Ages. That night while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were helping Jason finish his missed work, Harry went to try to get the book back and saw Snape tending to a bloody wound on his leg and complaining about the three-headed dog.

"I'd bet my broomstick he let the troll in, to make a diversion!" Harry continued. Harry had previously told Jason and Hermione that on the day of the break-in at Gringotts Hagrid had removed an item from one of the vaults and he believed that whatever Hagrid had taken was what the three-headed dog in the third-floor corridor was guarding.

"No - he wouldn't," Hermione spoke up. "He may not be very nice, but if Dumbledore was trying to keep something safe, Snape wouldn't be trying to steal it."

"You think all teachers are saints or something," Ron snapped at her. "I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?"

"I'm not sure if Snape is trying to steal something or not," Jason added. "What I am sure about is if I want to play Quidditch tomorrow I have to finish this work tonight."

Jason barely got any sleep that night, but when morning dawned the next day he had finished all of his homework. It was a cold morning as Jason made his way to the staffroom to hand in his work. After turning the papers in he rushed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. When he entered the room he looked around until he spotted Wood.

"Do you have the all-clear?" Wood asked expectantly when Jason approached him.

"Yup. I just turned everything in. I'm allowed to play."

"Good, we're gonna need you out there. I'll let Alicia know. Get something to eat and make sure you and Harry both get to the stadium on time."

After talking with Wood, Jason once again scanned the room, looking for Silas. He hadn't seen Silas since the night with the troll, and even though Silas had visited him every day in the hospital wing. Jason had been wanting to talk so Silas since he woke up after the battle with the troll, but it appeared the other boy was avoiding him.

Jason made his way over to where Harry was sitting with Ron, Hermione, and Seamus. Jason sat down, pilled his plate with sausages, and started to eat. Rone, Hermione, and Seamus were attempting to get Harry to eat, but he had no stomach for it.

"You're gonna need your strength," Jason said between bites. "Things can get rough up in the air."

"Yeah you need to eat up," Seamus chipped in. "Seekers are always the ones who get clobbered by the other team."

"Thanks, Seamus," Harry said gloomily.

At eleven o'clock, Jason found himself in the Gryffindor locker room attached to the Hogwarts quidditch stadium. The whole Gryffindor team was gathered there wearing their scarlet Quidditch robes.

"Okay, men," Wood grabbed their attention.

"And women," said Angelina Johnson, another one of the team's chasers.

"And women," Wood agreed. "This is it."

"The big one," said Fred Weasly.

"The one we've all been waiting for," George added.

"We know Oliver's speech by heart," Fred whispered to Jason and Harry. "We were on the team last year."

"Shut up, you two," said Wood. "This is the best team Gryffindor's had in years. We will win this. I know it."

"Right. It's time. Good luck, all of you."

The team marched out onto the pitch. As soon as they stepped out of the locker room a wave of cheers washed over them.

Looking next to him, Jason could see Harry shaking as he walked. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do fine," Jason tried to calm him down.

As they lined up opposite the Slytherin team Madam Hooch, who was reffing the game, began to speak.

"Now, I want a nice fair game, all of you," She seemed to be talking particularly to the Slytherin Captain, a fifth-year named Marcus Flint."

"Mount your brooms, please."

As Jason mounted his broom, he could feel himself being engulfed. Welling up inside himself he could feel it spread throughout his body, wrapping itself around him. This was a familiar feeling to Jason. He felt this way every time he played in an actual Quidditch match. The world around him went cold, but the feeling around him kept him warm. Nothing else seemed to exist outside the stadium. All that existed was the match. All he could feel was the broom below him. He called this the void. The void was his friend. The void helped him in every match he played.

Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.

Fifteen brooms rose, high into the air. They were off.

The game had begun.


	15. Vs. Slytherin

The game started out at a very fast pace. As soon as the match started, Angelina Johnson, one of the other Gryffindor chasers, received the Quaffle and took off towards the Slytherin goal posts. Katie Bell, the other chaser, flew a few feet to Angelina's left and Jason kept position a little bit behind them both. One of the Slytherin beaters launched a bludger straight for Angelina's broom, but she rolled out of the way, tossing the quaffle to Katie in the process.

As they approached the goalposts, a Slytherin chaser approached Katie trying to bump into her and take the Quaffle, but she threw it back to Angelina before they got too close.

The Quaffle was inches from Angelina's hand when a blur shot down from above and snatched the quaffle away. Marcus Flint had stolen it and was on his way towards the Gryffindor side.

Before anyone else could react, Jason pulled up on his broom, changing directions to follow Flint and rolling in the process to be right side up. A Bludger went straight for Jason, but he paid it no mind, as Fred Weasley intercepted, sending it back towards one of the Slytherin chasers. Flint was fast, but Jason was faster, and when he was just about in range to get the quaffle back, Flint threw the quaffle, but Wood anticipated the shot and knocked the Quaffle away.

Jason caught the Quaffle and spun back towards the Slytherin side of the pitch. He dived as Flint tried to reclaim the ball, pulling up just before he hit the ground. As he rose towards the goalposts, Jason tossed the Quaffle to Katie, but before she could catch it a Bludger took her in the back of the head, knocking her off her broom.

In the void, Jason could barely hear the chorus of boos that rose up from the stands as a Slytherin chaser retrieved the Quaffle. Jason could just make out Lee Jordan, the announcer, saying it was Adrian Pucey.

Adrian rushed towards the goalposts but was blocked by a Bludger that George Weasly sent his way. Jason saw Angelina going for the Quaffle and took a position off to her left. The field ahead of them was clear, but they continued to shuffle their positions and toss the ball back and forth to keep the pursuing Slytherin's off their backs.

Angelina has possession of the Quaffle as they approached the leftmost goalpost. She went for a throw and the Slytherin keeper, Bletchey dived to intercept, but it was a fake-out. Angelina passed the Quaffle to Jason. To Jason, the only things that existed were the Quaffle, the goal post, and himself. With the focus of the void, Jason threw the ball.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Jason could hear faintly in the distance as he watched the Quaffle soar through the unguarded goal. Jason looped back towards the Gryffindor side, and then spun and waited for Madam Hooch to return the Quaffle to play.

As he waited he quickly scanned the field. Fred and George were keeping the Bludgers under control as the Slytherin beaters attempted to launch them into Gryffindor team members. Angelina and Katie had taken up positions in line with Jason, with one in the middle of the field and on the far side so that the chasers could react to an approach from anywhere on the field. This was one of Wood's favorite defensive formations. Wood himself was in front of the goalposts, watching the Slytherin chasers like a hawk as he drifted between the three goals. Finally, Harry was floating high above all the action, he was supposed to be watching for any hint of the Golden Snitch, but instead, he was pulling off some loop-the-loops, probably to let off the excitement of the first points of the game.

Things are looking good, Jason thought to himself as his attention returned to the field where Pucey had received the Quaffle from Madam Hooch and was beginning his approach.

Fred and George both sent a Bludger straight for Pucey, but he dodged them both. The Weasley twins followed their Bludgers themselves, trying to bump into Pucey, but he dived below them. He was making his approach on the far side of the field from Jason, where Katie was positioned, she went to block his approach but he pulled off a barrel roll and evaded her. Angelina and Katie began to chase Pucey, as Jason went to place himself between Pucey and Flint who was keeping position off to Pucey's side.

Pucey dropped the Quaffle, as a flash of gold passed inches away from his left ear. Jason let off a burst of speed and caught the Quaffle, but when turned back to the field he saw that none of the other players were in motion.

Harry and Terence Higgs, the Slytherin seeker, were in pursuit of the Snitch and everyone from the crowd to the players was entranced watching them. The two seekers were neck and neck, but Higgs had the reach on Harry and extended his hand out towards the snitch. Harry bumped into the other seeker, stopping him from catching the Snitch and lurching forward to catch it himself. Just as Harry's hand was about to close around the Snitch Flint flew straight into Harry's side, knocking him off-course and almost off his broom.

Madam Hooch yelled out at Flint and awarded the Gryffindor team a penalty shot. The Snitch had flown away in the confusion so the game continued. As the last person on the Gryffindor team in possession of the Quaffle, Jason took the penalty shot and put it through the goal with no problem.

As play continued, Katie had possession of the Quaffle. She seemed a lot more motivated since her return after being knocked off her broom by a Bludger. She darted across the pitch, dodging incoming Bludgers and Slytherin chasers until the only thing blocking her from scoring was Bletchey. The Slytherin's tried to catch up to Katie, but Jason and Angelina followed behind her holding them off as she faced down the keeper. Katie went straight for the center goal and sent the Quaffle flying, Bletchey tried to intercept, but the ball slipped past him and through the goal.

Following Katie's goal, Jason once again surveyed the field, and that's when he saw it. In his position up above all the action, Harry could barely stay on his broom. The broom was trying to buck him off, lurching in random directions at frightening speeds. Harry was gripping the broom with all his strength trying to regain control of his broom, but his efforts were in vain as it continued lurching in every direction.

As Jason was looking up at Harry, Flint had taken the Quaffle and sped past him while he was distracted. Looking back to the game, Jason saw Katie try to stop Flint, but he dodged her. As he made his approach to the goal post, Fred knocked a Bludger towards him, which hit Flint right in the face, causing him to drop the Quaffle. Jason couldn't decide whether to try to help Harry, or return to the match, as he hesitated, Pucey caught the dropped Quaffle and scored a goal for the Slytherin team.

The game was continuing, but no one seemed to notice Harry, who was drifting further into the air as his broom kept jerking and twitching beneath him. As Harry's broom started to roll over and over again, Jason called out that something was wrong with Harry's broom, but in the excitement of the game, no one seemed to hear him.

Jason didn't know what to do, and the void was starting to slip away. He became more aware of the crowd around him. Making up his mind, Jason flew up to try to help Harry, as Harry's broom flipped him over, leaving him hanging from underneath the broom.

The crowd seemed to notice Jason heading away from the game and then they saw Harry. Murmurs ran through the crowd and the players below paused. Harry's broom began to vibrate as he hung off of it, so Jason decided to position himself below Harry, to catch the other boy if he fell. The Weasleys also approached, and coming up beside Harry, they tried to pull him onto their brooms, but every time one of them reached for Harry, his broom jumped up higher into the sky. Realizing that trying to get him off the broom was only making things worse, the Weasleys joined Jason below Harry, all three of them ready to catch Harry if he fell.

Glancing down at the pitch, Jason saw that the rest of the Gryffindor team was all taking positions below them, trying to make a safety net to catch Harry if he fell. On the other hand, the Slytherins were taking advantage of the situation and were scoring point after point at the Gryffindor team's unguarded goals.

At shouts about a fire below, Harry was suddenly able to clamber back onto his broom and was in full control again.

Once they were sure Harry wasn't gonna fall, the Gryffindor team jumped back into the game. Jason came down on Flint from above and stole the Quaffle from him. As Jason flew towards the Slytherin goalposts, he noticed Harry shooting down towards the ground, clapping his hand over his mouth.

He's probably gonna be sick, Jason thought. That jerky ride surely upset his stomach.

Jason continued on, but when he looked back he saw Harry hit the field, hard. Harry started to cough until a small golden ball came out of his mouth.

"I've got the Snitch!" Harry shouted, raising the ball in the air, and the game ended in complete confusion.

Gryffindor won the match with one hundred and eighty points to Slytherin's sixty. The Slytherins were in an uproar and Flint got into a shouting match with Madam Hooch, but that didn't end well for him. After about twenty minutes of arguing she threatened to ban Flint from the rest of the games for the year and take away fifteen house points, that worked to shut him up. Most people thought that Madam Hooch was bluffing, but no one was willing to call her on it.

"It was Snape," Ron was explaining, as Hagrid made them tea in his hut following the match. "Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid. "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged looks until Harry spoke up.

"I found out that he tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. He was trying to steal whatever it's guarding and it bit him," he told Hagrid.

Hagrid dropped the teapot.

"How do you know about Fluffy?"

"Fluffy?" Ron asked.

"That thing has a name?" Jason added.

"Yeah - he's mine - I got him last year. Lent him to Dumbledore to guard the -"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Don't ask me anymore. That's top-secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it," Harry protested.

"Rubbish," Hagrid said once again. "Spane's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try to kill Harry?" cried Hermione. "I know a jinx when I see one! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking!"

"Yer wrong!" Hagrid exclaimed hotly. "I don' know what happened to Harry's broom, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardian', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"

"Aha!" Harry cried, "so there's someone named Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

"I shouldn' have said that," Hagrid looked furious with himself. "I really should' h've said that."


	16. New Friends

As mid-December arrived and Christmas drew nearer, the atmosphere of the castle started to change. By the time the roaring fires were started in the Gryffindor common room and the Great hall most of the students couldn't wait for Christmas break to start. Most rooms in Hogwarts were kept nice and toasty to keep the students warm, but that also made leaving a room harder, as the corridors became icy. The worst place of all was Professor Snape's potions class in the dungeons, where the freezing temperatures in the room were only rivaled by the coldness of Snape's glare at anyone who complained about the temperature.

Just breathing in the room let out a mist, as the students huddled close to their warm cauldrons. During class, Jason didn't seem to notice the cold, nor the constant rambling from his current partner Edgar Allen, as he sat lost in thought. Ever since the incident with the troll, he still hadn't managed to talk with Silas or Frederick, and now on top of his worries about them, he now had to deal with the mystery of what was hidden in the third-floor corridor.

Jason had gotten some glimpses of Silas here and there, but Silas would go the other way whenever they saw each other. Even as they were currently in potions class together, Silas purposely kept his back to Jason and would run out the door as soon as class was over. Jason wasn't sure if things had changed between them after they saved each other's lives on Halloween, but Silas was definitely different since then. He still hung out with Malfoy and his crew, but he didn't join them in bullying students anymore. Also, Malfoy's crew had stopped treating Frederick as badly, they still bullied him, but it didn't devolve into beatings anymore and they only made fun of him a little more than they did the average first-year student now.

This development had changed Fredericks' time at Hogwarts for the better. He still didn't seem to have many friends, but he did find a close friend in a first-year Hufflepuff student named Harper Jüunge. Jason knew Harper from Herbology and a few other classes, Harper is an extremely smart boy, but very lazy so not many people realize it. He's more likely to be found napping or goofing off than taking notes in class, but that hasn't stopped him from receiving almost perfect scores on all the assessments they took.

Harper and Frederick seemed to have become friends out of nowhere, as one day he just appeared at the Ravenclaw table during dinner, and from that day on Frederick and him always ate together. Jason had meant to approach them a few times to talk with Frederick but always felt like he would be intruding and decided against it. In addition to Harper, Frederick also seemed to talk with his fellow Ravenclaw's more, as they began to notice that Malfoy had backed off on bullying him.

Jason was still lost in thought when he heard Malfoy's distinctive laugh. Malfoy was laughing at his own joke as he made fun of the students who wouldn't be going home for Christmas, but Jason was glad for Malfoy's laugh as it stopped him from nearly adding too much-powdered spine of lionfish to his potion. Malfoy went on making fun of the students that wouldn't be returning home for Christmas as if it was the worst thing in the world, but Jason was actually quite excited about spending Christmas at Hogwarts this year. Christmas at the Fortescue household tended to just be Grandpa Richard and Jason, as his parents normally would take his sister Jessy on a trip and leave Jason at home. This year, Grandpa Richard wouldn't even have been there, so the idea of spending Christmas at Hogwarts was appealing. Jason wouldn't be alone, Harry was staying because he had no desire to go back to his Aunt and Uncles for Christmas, and the Weasley's were staying because their parents were going away to visit one of his older brothers.

As soon as potions was over Jason moved to talk to Silas, but he was out of the door before Jason could reach him. With a sigh, Jason went over to leave class with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Leaving the dungeons they found themselves trapped by a large fir tree with enormous feet sticking out at the bottom.

"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked.

"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."

"Move out of the way," Malfoy drawled from behind them. "Trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Want to be the next gamekeeper? That hut must seem like a palace next to what your family's used to."

Ron lunged at Malfoy, grabbing the front of his robes, but Ron timed it wrong and Snape came up the stairs as it happened.

"WEASLEY!"

Ron let go.

"He was provoked," Hagrid stood up for Ron. "Malfoy was insulin' his family."

"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," Snape replied. "Five points from Gryffindor, be grateful it isn't more."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed past the tree and left.

"I'll get him," Ron said grinding his teeth, "one of these days I'll get him-"

"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."

"Don't let them get to you," Jason told the two of them.

"Cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," Hagrid added. "Why don' yeh come an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."

The four of them followed Hagrid to the Great hall. When he opened the door they were awestruck.

The hall was spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung around the walls, twelve Christmas trees stood towering around the room.

"How many days until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.

"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me - We've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."

"The library?" said Hagrid, as they left the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"

"We're not working," Harry explained brightly. "We've been trying to find out who Nicholas Flamel is."

"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "I've told yeh to drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'"

"We just want to know who he is, that's all," said Hermione.

"Would be a lot less of a hassle if you just told us," Jason suggested.

"I'm sayin' nothing'," Hagrid answered flatly.

"Just have to find out of ourselves then," said Ron.

As they made their way to the library, Jason noticed someone slink down a corridor out of the corner of his eye.

"I think I'm gonna sit the library raid out this time," He told the others. "I just remembered there's something I have to do."

Jason followed the figure through the corridors until they ended up in a small corridor close to the history of magic classroom. Nobody wanted to be near the classroom during class time, so this corridor was normally deserted when class was out, but it wasn't at the moment.

As Jason turned the corner, he saw Silas peering down the corridor from a doorway a third of the way down the corridor. He was watching Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. Malfoy had his wand out and was pointing it at a figure that Crabbe and Goyle were holding between them. It was Frederick.

Frederick's left eye was swollen shut and his nose was covered in blood. Frederick was limp between Crabbe and Goyle. He was just barely able to keep his head up.

"You've been thinking too highly of yourself lately," Malfoy drawled. "Just because we haven't been seeing much of each other lately doesn't mean you ignore us."

Malfoy twirled his wand in his hand and then pointed it back at Frederick. "You look like the perfect person to practice some new hexes on." Malfoy pulled his wand back and began to cast a spell.

"EXPELLIARMUS!"

Jason hadn't even realized that he had pulled his wand out until he cast his spell. Jason's charm hit Malfoy, sending his wand flying. As he came out from around the corner he saw Silas slip back into the classroom he was peeking out of, but Jason didn't pay him much mind. Frederick hit the ground as Crabbe and Goyle dropped him to pull out their wands. Jason approached Malfoy and his goons, keeping his wand pointed at them. Goyle cast a hex at Jason, which he quickly blocked with Protego, but that gave Malfoy enough time to grab his wand off the floor.

"Just go away!" Jason told them. "I don't want any trouble, just leave."

"You may not want trouble," Malfoy sneered, "but we do."

Jason continued to approach as Crabbe and Goyle backed up until they were standing at Malfoy's side. Jason stopped once he placed himself between them and Frederick.

"You're outnumbered and out skilled," Malfoy grinned. "It's three to one. Wouldn't blame you if you want to run to mummy now."

"I may be outnumbered," Jason responded. "But I'm definitely not out skilled. I doubt your backup even knows which side of the wand to hold."

Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle all moved at once. They began to wave their wands to cast a spell. Before they could cast Crabbe was hit by a spell from the side and when flying through the air.

Malfoy and Goyle both spun around in shock. Jason didn't want to take his eyes off of them, but out of the corner of his eye, he could see another boy standing in the corridor. Silas had come out of the classroom he was watching from and moved to stand by Jason's side.

"What do you think you're doing, Silas?" Malfoy drawled. "If you're with them, then you won't be getting off lightly."

"It took me a while, but I finally realized something," Silas told Malfoy. "I don't want to be your friend. I don't want to be like you. Our parents may have been friends, but we're not our parents and I don't want anything to do with you."

"Whatever you think," Malfoy began. "You're still siding against me, and I have you outnumbered."

Jason glanced to the side. "I wouldn't say outnumbered," he spoke up. "Crabbe doesn't look ready for a fight right now." Malfoy looked to the side and saw that Crabbe was sprawled out on the floor. Silas's spell had hit Crabbe hard, leaving him unconscious.

"Take a moment to think now Malfoy," Silas said. "You think you can take both of us with only Goyle for backup? This isn't a fistfight, Goyle won't be much use here. Just put away your wands, agree to leave Frederick alone and this will all end here."

Malfoy took a moment to think before he moved. He signaled to Goyle and the two of them put away their wands. The two of them started to walk away, never turning their backs to Jason and Silas. As they passed Crabbe, Goyle grabbed him by the back of his robes and dragged him down the corridor. Jason and Silas didn't put down their wands until Malfoy and his gang had turned the corner.

"Thanks, Silas," Jason turned to the other boy. "For this and for getting me out of the dungeons. We wouldn't have gotten out of here that easily without you."

"It was nothing," Silas responded. "As I said, I realized I don't want to be like them." Silas looked back at Frederick. "We should get him to the hospital wing."

The two of them helped Frederick to his feet. Frederick was pretty beat up and they had to support him while they walked.

"Thanks, Jason," Frederick spoke in a weak voice. "And thank you too, Silas."

"Call me Quinn."


	17. Christmas Break

Jason really enjoyed himself over Christmas break. The students that stayed at Hogwarts didn't have any responsibilities and were able to spend their time doing whatever they wanted. There weren't many people who stayed during the break, Harry and the Weasleys were the only Gryffindor's beside himself who stayed. Quinn tried to stay for winter break, not wanting to face his parents after what happened with Malfoy, but they made him go home. Frederick also went home, but Harper stayed. Ever since the night with Malfoy's gang, Jason had been spending time with Frederick, Quinn, and Harper, and all of them were getting along very well.

Jason's days over the break were mostly spent hanging out with Harry, Ron, and Harper. Ron had been teaching Harry wizards chess so the four of them spent most of their time playing it. Harry had never played chess before, nevermind wizard chess so he had difficulty playing. Harry tended to get distracted by his pieces, which he borrowed from Seamus, as they kept yelling advice to him. Harry lost every match he played. Harper and Jason were pretty well matched and were about even in wins against each other. Surprisingly, Ron was a master of wizard chess. None of them had beaten Ron in a match, although both Harper and Jason had each gotten close, Ron always pulled out the win. He also spent as much time as he could in the library researching Nicholas Flamel. Harry, Ron, and he had all promised Hermione that they would continue to search over the break, but Harry and Ron never managed to find their way to the library.

"You should really be paying attention," Harper said from across the table. Jason and he were currently sitting in the great-hall playing wizard chess while Jason responded to letters. He had just finished writing a letter to Grandpa Richard and was starting on one to Ginny. She had written him one when he was in the hospital wing after his run-in with the troll on Halloween and since he replied they had been exchanging letters.

"I don't need to pay attention to beat you," Jason grinned as he pushed the letter to the side. "I could beat you with my eyes closed."

"I'd love to see that happen, especially because I just took you, Queen," Harper shot back.

"All I need to win is a pawn," Jason teased.

"Oh, so would you be willing to put money on that?"

"Not money but maybe we can figure something out."

"How about you tell me what you've been looking for in the library."

"That's gonna be a no go," Jason laughed. Harper had been trying to figure out what Jason had been doing since they started hanging out. "Not my secret to share. You'll have to come up with something else."

Harper smirked and looked down at the letter Jason was writing. "How about you let me peak at that letter you're writing."

"Hmm, and what do I get if I win?"

"My undying admiration."

"Guess we're not making any bets." Jason laughed.

Jason woke up early in the morning. The first thing he noticed was the heavy leather-bound tomb on his lap. He had fallen asleep while reading a copy of Notable Wizards Through the Ages that he had borrowed from the library the night before to look for mentions of Nicholas Flamel. He closed the book and pulled back the curtains around his bed before placing the book on his nightstand and getting out of bed. He was so groggy that he hadn't noticed the pile at the foot of his bed or the similar piles at Ron and Harry's beds.

"Merry Christmas," said Ron sleepily as both he and Harry started to stir out of their beds.

"Merry Christmas," Jason and Harry both replied.

"Will you look at this?" Harry said looking at the pile of presents at the foot of his bed. "I've got some presents!"

"What did you expect, turnips?" Ron teased as he started looking through his own pile.

Jason looked through his pile, starting with a large, neatly wrapped box. It was from Grandpa Richard. Inside was a leather satchel bag and a note.

Merry Christmas Jason,

I'm sorry that I won't get to see you for Christmas this year, but I am happy to hear that you will be spending it with friends. I'm sure you recognize this bag, my father gave it to me for my first Christmas after starting at Hogwarts and it only felt right that I now pass it onto you. Of course, I fixed it up for you and added something special. I hope it serves you as well as it served me.

The something special was an undetectable extension charm allowing him to store more in the bag than should have fit into it.

His next present was a hand-carved harp from Hagrid. Following that was a small bag of candy from Harry, he also got candy from Hermione and Ron. Jessy sent him a postcard from their family's current Christmas trip with a picture of herself and their parents in front of a castle in Ireland. His next present was from Ginny. She got him a small handheld broom that flew around in circles. He noticed that the broom was a Nimbus 1700 and upon further examination, he realized it was a replica of his own broom down to the smallest details.

Jason placed the broom on the nightstand next to his bed and was watching it fly a lap when Harry started to talk.

"I'm confused," Harry was saying.

"What about?" Jason asked. "I would think opening presents is a pretty straightforward process, but if you need it I can write out some instructions for you." Ron and Harry both laughed.

"I already opened my presents from you guys, Hermione, Hagrid, even my aunt, and uncle - so who sent these?" Harry asked, holding up his two last presents.

"I think I know who that one's from," Ron spoke up, turning a bit pink and pointing at a lumpy parcel. "Looks like Jason got one as well and - oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you guys Weasley sweaters."

Jason picked up his own lumpy parcel, which happened to be his last present. Harry and Jason both opened the presents to reveal hand-knitted sweaters and boxes of homemade fudge. Harry's was emerald green with a large red "H" in the center. Jason's was Black with a large white "J" in the center.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," said Harry.

"Yeah these are nice," Jason said, pulling on the sweater and tasting some of the fudge. "The fudge tastes great."

Harry moved onto his last present. When he unwrapped it a fluid and silver-gray cloak fell to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped. Jason's jaw dropped.

"I've heard of those," Ron said in a hushed voice. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare and really valuable."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"It's an Invisibility Cloak," Jason answered as Harry wrapped it around his shoulders, causing everything but his head to disappear.

"It is! Look down!" Ron shouted.

A note fell out of the package and Harry pulled the cloak off as he picked it up.

"Who's it from?" Jason asked.

"I don't know," Harry sounded confused. "There isn't a name on it."

Before their conversation could go any further the door slammed open to reveal Fred and George.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look - Harry and Jason both got Weasley sweaters too!"

Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow "F" and the other with a "G."

Fred picked up Harry's sweater and George examined Jason's. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family," Fred said.

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded, turning to his younger brother. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron mumbled as he pulled his sweater on.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George noted. "She probably thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?"

Percy entered the room, looking around disapprovingly. He carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.

"P for prefect! Get it on, we're all wearing them, Even Harry and Jason got sweaters."

"I - don't - want -" Percy protested as the twins forced him into the sweater.

"You're not sitting with the prefects today," George informed Percy. "Christmas is a time for family."

The twins frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms were pinned down by the sweater.

Breakfast that morning was amazing, the best meal Jason ever ate. Following breakfast, Jason, Harry, Harper, and the Weasleys spent the day having snowball fights on the lawn outside of the castle. Following dinner, the Gryffindors retired to the Gryffindor common room. After a few games of wizard chess, Jason still couldn't manage to beat Ron, and watching Percy chase Ferd and George around the common room, they had stolen his prefect badge, all of them went to bed.

The next morning Harry told Jason and Ron that he had taken the invisibility cloak to the restricted section of the library, and then found a mirror that showed him his entire family. Ron was upset that Harry hadn't taken them with him, but Jason was more interested in the distracted gaze with which Harry had on his face for the whole day.

That night Jason, Harry, and Ron all crowded under the invisibility cloak and searched the castle for the room with the mirror that Harry had found. They tried retracing his steps from the library but ended up wandering the corridors for over an hour. Ron was getting agitated and Harry had a desperate look in his eyes. Jason suggested that they call it a night and look another time when Harry spotted the room.

As soon as they were in the room and closed the door, Harry dropped the cloak to the floor and rushed to the mirror.

"See?" Harry whispered and started pointing at the mirror. "There they are, those are my parents, and behind them are-"

"There's nothing there," Jason interrupted him.

"I can't see anything," Ron added.

"Look! Look there are loads of them," Harry said.

"I can only see you," Ron answered.

"Look at it properly, go on, stand where I am," Harry stepped aside and ushered Ron to the spot in front of the mirror. All Jason could see in the mirror was Ron.

Ron stood, staring transfixed at the mirror.

"Look at me!" he said excitedly.

"Can you see your family?" Harry asked.

"No, it's just me, but different. I'm older. I think I'm Head Boy, I'm wearing a badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup- I'm Quidditch captain, too!"

Ron looked from Harry to Jason, his face painted with excitement.

"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How could it?" Harry answered. "All my family are dead."

"You take a turn, Jason," Harry looked to Jason who still stood by the door.

Jason slowly walked towards the mirror. When he was in front of it, Ron looked at him and then back to the mirror. Ron hesitantly stepped out of the way, looking longingly at the mirror as he moved away.

Jason stepped up to the mirror but didn't look into it yet.

"Go ahead," Harry encouraged. "What do you see?"

Jason raised his eyes and stared into the mirror.


	18. The Mirror of Erised

Jason couldn't understand what he saw in the mirror.

"What is it?" Harry asked curiously.

"I see my family," Jason lied. Taking one last look in the mirror he decided he had to get out of there.

"I'm gonna head back to the common room," he told the others. "I'm not feeling well."

"Don't go yet," Ron responded, "wait for us and the cloak."

"I'll be fine, I'll be stealthy. You guys shouldn't spend much more time here either."

Before either of them could protest, Jason moved away from the mirror and made his way to the door, quietly closing it behind him. As soon as Jason had moved away from the mirror, Harry and Ron had both moved towards it. Now standing in the corridor outside of the room, he could hear Harry and Ron quietly arguing over which one of them should be using the mirror.

Jason quietly made his way back towards the common room, sticking to the shadows to not be seen. At one time he had a close call where Peeves came floating down a corridor, but Jason was able to slip into an empty classroom until Peeves left. After making it past Peeves, Jason thought he was basically in the clear. Just before he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, he realized he was wrong.

"Would you like to join me for a walk, Mr. Fortescue?" A calm and friendly voice rang out from behind him. "I've been finding myself having some trouble sleeping as of late. Walking seems to help me and maybe it will help you as well."

Jason turned around to see Professor Dumbledore standing in the middle of the corridor behind him.

"Evening Professor," Jason replied as if nothing was wrong. "Oh, what am I doing out here? I must have been sleepwalking."

"Hmm sleepwalking? That's a rather impressive talent, especially how you dodged into that room to avoid Peeves." Dumbledore let out a light chuckle before turning around and motioning for Jason to follow.

Hanging his head in defeat, Jason followed after Professor Dumbledor. Dumbledore didn't say a word for some time, but as they passed through corridor after corridor he eventually spoke up.

"I've always loved the castle at night," Dumbledore said. "It's so calm and peaceful, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes Professor."

"I've spent a lot of time exploring this castle, ever since I was a student here myself."

"Is that so, Professor" Jason wasn't sure what was going on as Dumbledore made small talk, but he figured it was a good thing that they were moving away from Gryffindor tower, that way, Harry and Ron wouldn't get caught when they made their way back.

"Even with all the time I have spent exploring the castle," Dumbledore continued. "I doubt I'll ever know all of its secrets, that being said, I think you saw one of the castle's secrets tonight."

Jason looked at his feet as they walked.

"It's quite ok," Dumbledore said reassuringly. "I've always known that one day you and your friends would end up in that room."

"Professor, what is the mirror?" Jason asked.

"It is called the mirror of Erised," Dumbledore responded, "nobody knows who made it, or why, but it has stood in Hogwarts for many a year. I assume you have a theory about what it does?"

"From what the other saw, I'd say it shows a person what they need to be happy, but that doesn't explain what I saw."

"Young Mr. Potter sees his family and young Mr. Weasley sees personal glory," Dumbledore began. "The mirror shows the deepest most desire of our hearts. I'm sure you can see why that could be an issue?"

"After seeing it, a person wouldn't want to move away," Jason thought back to how Harry had been acting since he discovered the mirror, and how Ron was so hesitant to move away from the mirror. "They see what they desire and want to spend all of their time looking at it."

"Exactly," Dumbledore smiled. "Many a man has gone mad and withered away while staring into it. The mirror is an example of how magic can be very dangerous."

"Why would you keep that in a school?" Jason blurted out before he could stop himself.

Dumbledore laughed. "I have come to the realization that it is too dangerous to be left out where anyone can find it. Very soon I will move the mirror." Dumbledore continued to walk until they entered the clocktower courtyard. He took a minute and looked up at the stars.

"An interesting fact about the mirror is that the happiest person in the world would look into the mirror and see nothing. Only themself," Dumbledore said after some time. "I think I already know, but what did you see in the mirror?"

"I saw nothing," Jason whispered. "Not even myself."

Dumbledore walked Jason back to the portrait of the Fat Lady in silence.

"Don't worry," Dumbledore said when they arrived. "I will not be taking house points from you or your friends for tonight's adventure."

"Thank you, Professor," Jason responded distractedly.

"I would ask you," Dumbledore began, "to not tell your friends of our conversation. I will inform them that the mirror is being moved. I must also tell you to not go looking for it after it has been moved. Although I think that you are the person I'm least worried about searching for it."

Jason opened his mouth to ask Professor Dumbledore one more question.

"Trust me when I say that this is a topic you should not worry about," Dumbledore cut him off. "When the time is right you will understand what you saw, or didn't see, in the mirror. Now off to bed with you."

Jason watched Professor Dumbledore walk back down the corridor. Once Dumbledore was out of sight, Jason entered the Gryffindor common room and made his way to the first-years boys' dormitory to go to sleep. He tried his best to clear his thoughts of what had happened that night, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep that night.

"How'd we get back before you?" Ron asked Jason the next morning.

"Peeves was about when I was heading back," Jason began. "I ended up finding a place to lay low for a while until I could get back, but he left long before I realized." Jason didn't lie to Ron, but he didn't tell the whole truth. "What about you guys? Did you get back alright?"

"Mrs. Norris almost caught us," Harry spoke up from where he sat in front of the fireplace. "We got under the cloak before she came in."

That was the first Harry had spoken all morning.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" Ron asked.

"No."

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?" Jason suggested.

"No...you guys go..."

"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight." Ron warned.

"Why not?"

"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it," Ron explained.

Jason knew that the mirror wouldn't be there much longer and he was going to leave Dumbledore to explain to Harry why he shouldn't spend time with the mirror, but he felt like he should dissuade Harry from going tonight.

"You've had a lot of close calls already," Jason stated.

"Yeah, they may not be able to see you," Ron said. "But Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are all wandering around. There are other ways they can find out you're there. What if they bump into you? Or you knock something over?"

"The two of you sound like Hermione," Harry said blatantly annoyed.

"We're serious, Harry, don't go," Ron pleaded.

Jason could tell that Harry wasn't listening to them.


	19. Revelation

Hermione returned the day before term started and was not very happy with them. She was horrified that they had been out at night and disappointed that they hadn't found out who Nicolas Flamel was. As classes continued they returned to skimming books in the library for his name during breaks, but it was normally just Hermione and Ron, as Jason and Harry were busy with quidditch practice.

Wood was working the team harder than ever. He was so serious about winning the Quidditch cup that even the endless rain that replaced the snow didn't dampen his spirits. The Weasleys complained that Wood was becoming a fanatic, but the rest of the team was willing to go along with Wood's training schedule. Adding to their excitement, was that if they beat Hufflepuff in their next match they would overtake Slytherin in the House Championship for the first time in the last seven years.

During their last practice session, a particularly wet and muddy one, Wood gave the team some bad news. He was yelling at the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.

"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That behavior will lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, he'll take any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"

George actually fell off his broom at that.

"Snape's refereeing?" he spluttered as he spit out a mouthful of mud. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."

"It's not my fault," Wood told them as the whole team landed to complain. "We have to play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."

At the end of practice, the team normally hung around to talk, but after Harry gave Jason a troubling look, they both lead staring for the Gryffindor common room. When they got there they found Ron and Hermione playing chess. Chess was the only thing Hermione ever lost at.

"Don't talk to me for a moment," Ron told them when they sat down next to him and Hermione. "I need to concen -" Ron stopped when he saw Harry's face. "What's the matter with you? You look terrible."

Harry and Jason quickly whispered the news to Ron and Hermione.

"Don't play," Hermione told Harry as they finished talking.

"Say you're ill," Ron advised.

"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.

"Really break your leg," Ron added.

"There isn't a reserve Seeker," Harry told them. "If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all."

"You're gonna have to play," Jason chipped in. "But we're gonna need a plan in case Snape tries something."

At that moment Neville toppled into the common room. How he got through the portrait hole was beyond Jason, because his legs were stuck together with the Leg-Locker Curse. Jason had to fight his laughter as he imagined Neville bunny hopping all the way up to Gryffindor Tower.

Jason wasn't the only one who found it funny, as everyone in the room, except for Hermione, fell over laughing. Hermione leaped up and performed the countercurse. Neville's legs sprang apart and he got to his feet, trembling.

"What happened?" Hermione asked as she motioned to Jason, the two of them helped Neville up and led him to where Harry and Ron still sat.

"Malfoy," Neville said shakily. "I ran into him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on." Malfoy had been getting more aggressive with his bullying ever since Jason and Quinn confronted him and got him to leave Frederick alone.

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. 'Report him!"

Neville shook his head.

"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down and take it. Just look at Jason. When he stood up to Malfoy, Malfoy stopped going after that Ravenclaw guy."

"There's no need to tell me, I'm not as brave as you Jason. I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already showed me that," Neville choked out.

"Don't talk like that," Jason told Neville. It wasn't easy for me to stand up to him, and I had back up. I can give you back up if that'll help you deal with him."

"No, that'll just make things worse."

Harry pulled a Chocolate Frog out of his pocket and gave it to Neville, who looked like he might cry.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."

Neville's lips twisted into a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks, Harry ... I think I'll go to bed ... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

Harry looked at the card when Neville walked away.

"Dumbledore again," he hissed, "He was the first one I ever-"

He gasped, staring at the back of the card. He looked up at Jason, Ron, and Hermione.

"What is it?" Jason asked curiously.

"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I knew I read his name somewhere before, it was on the train on the way here. Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work with his partner, Nicolas Flamel!"

Hermione could barely contain herself as she leaped to her feet. She hadn't been that excited about anything since they got their first graded homework back.

"Stay there!" she said, and she sprinted to the girls' dormitories. She dashed back moments later with an enormous old book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library for a bit of light reading."

"Light?" said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.

Jason recognized the book.

"Wait isn't that Notable Wizards Through the Ages," Jason said. "I checked that book over break. I didn't find anything, it didn't have anything about Flam -"

Jason cut himself off as he remembered something.

"Actually," he continued, "I think I fell asleep while reading it and didn't even get half-way through it." He chuckled, earning himself a disappointed glare from Hermione.

Hermione continued to flip through pages until she found what she was looking for.

"I knew it! I Knew it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" Ron asked grumpily. Hermione didn't respond.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

"You can't be serious?" Jason was shocked.

"The what?" Harry and Ron asked at the same time.

"Oh, honestly," Hermione said, obviously annoyed, "don't you two read?"

"The Sorcerer's Stone is a substance made through alchemy," Jason started explaining. "Or well it's the goal of a lot of alchemists, but it's so hard to make that very few people have ever done it successfully. I would bet that Flamel is the only confirmed alchemist to ever produce it. The stone has some amazing powers, it can turn metal into gold, and it can make its owner immortal.

"How does it do that?" Ron asked.

"It can be used to make something called the Elixir of Life, whoever drinks it will not die."

"It says here that Flamel is six hundred and sixty-five years old," Harry was reading from the book now, "and his wife is six hundred and fifty-eight."

"See?" said Hermione. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! He must have asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"No wonder Snape's after it!" said Harry. "A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying! Anyone would want it."

"That also explains why we couldn't find Flamel in the library," Jason said. "We were looking in books about recent magic developments and Flamel, well he's-"

"He's Ancient!" Ron added excitedly. "Not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

The days passed pretty fast as the next Quidditch match approached. Harry was determined to play in the game, even with Snape refereeing, but his determination didn't help with his nerves. Harry was convinced that Snape was following him and more than once asked Jason if he thinks that Snape could read minds. Jason knew that Ron and Hermione weren't helping, as when they wished Jason and Harry good luck outside of the locker rooms, they acted like they might never see Harry alive again. Jason was very worried about Harry as they got dressed for the match and grabbed their brooms. Harry stared off into space for Wood's whole pre-game pep talk.

"You think he's gonna choke out there?" Fred asked as he and George pulled Jason off to the side.

"He looks terrible," George added in. The three of them saw Wood take Harry aside.

"He'll be fine," Jason said, sounding more confident than he felt. "He's nervous now, but when the match starts he'll snap out of it."

"Hope so," Fred and George both said as they went to peak out the exit towards the pitch.

"The whole school's out there!" Fred shouted, seemingly forgetting his worries about Harry. "Even - blimey - Dumbledore's come to watch!"

"Dumbledore?" Harry's head shot up and he rushed to look out the door.

Jason could see the relief spread over Harry's face as he turned away from the door. That's great, Jason thought, feeling relieved himself. Snape wouldn't dare try anything in front of Dumbledore.

Marching out onto the field was a much more serious affair with Snape as the referee. No one was smiling on either team as they took their positions facing the Hufflepuff team. Snape didn't say a word, he didn't ask for a "nice fair game" as Madam Hooch had, instead he observed each team and then blew his whistle to start the game.

The void surrounded Jason as he kicked off the ground. Angelina received the quaffle and her and Jason flew in formation, passing the ball between them as the Hufflepuff chasers tried to intercept them. Jason dodged a bludger and threw the Quaffle at the leftmost goal.

Snape's whistle rang out.

The Quaffle passed through the goal.

Snape awarded Hufflepuff a penalty because a bludger hit by George came too close to him. He also didn't award points for the goal Jason scored because the Quaffle hadn't made it through the goal when he blew the whistle, even though Jason had thrown it before the whistle. Hufflepuff made their penalty shot and took possession of the Quaffle.

The Hufflepuff chaser approached fast, but not fast enough. Angelina, Katie, and Jason pulled off a Parkin's Pincer. A move they had been practicing recently, where Angelina and Katie fly besides an opposing chaser, hemming them in, and then Jason flies directly at the trapped chaser, stealing the Quaffle in the process. The crowd exploded with cheers as they pulled off the famous maneuver, but to Jason in the void, he heard no more than a dull roar.

On his way to the Hufflepuff side of the field, the opposing beaters sent both bludgers towards him. Jason was ready for this and tossed the Quaffle up to Katie who was flying above him. She dodged a Hufflepuff chaser and beat the keeper to get a goal.

Snape then rewarded Hufflepuff with another penalty. This time he didn't even give a reason. The Hufflepuff chaser made their penalty shot and the match continued.

Moments after the penalty shot, Harry dropped into a spectacular dive. He was heading straight at Snape and passed inches from Snape's face. Harry pulled out of his dive. In his hand, he held the Golden Snitch.

The game hadn't even lasted five minutes.


	20. Study Session

It was a school record. There had never been as quick a Quidditch match in Hogwarts history. Seeing the golden snitch in Harry's hand, Jason let the void slip away from around him and was greeted with a round of explosive cheering from the stands. The only section of the stands that was completely quiet was the Slytherin section, as even some of the Hufflepuff students were cheering at the historic match. By the time Jason reached the ground the rest of the Gryffindor team was already there, and Gryffindors were spilling onto the field. Looking around, Jason spotted Snape landing. His face was completely white, with his lips drawn into a tight line. Dumbledore was on the field now and walking towards Harry. Snape spotted him and spat bitterly on the ground.

The ending of the match was a whirlwind of excitement. The entire team was lifted up onto the shoulders of their fellow Gryffindors as students from the other houses, except Slytherin, also came onto the field to celebrate. Even the members of the Hufflepuff team came to see them and congratulate them on their victory.

Once the celebration on the field had died down, the Gryffindor team went back to the locker room. As they changed out of their Quidditch robes, everyone had wide smiles on their faces, especially Wood who for once found himself unable to say a word. They quickly changed as the team was eager to get to the post-match party, but as they were about to leave the locker room, Jason looked over and saw that Harry hadn't even started to change.

"You'd better hurry up," Jason said, approaching Harry. "Everyone's waiting for you. We can't head to the party without the guest of honor."

Harry snapped to attention. He had been staring into space the whole time.

"We should probably just leave him be," Fred said coming up behind Jason.

"Let him soak up his victory," George added.

"Not every day you catch the Snitch in record time. Gotta give him time to savor it," Fred finished.

"Ok. See you later, Harry," said Jason as he followed Fred and George out of the locker room.

They made their way towards the castle, but Jason was stopped as soon as they made it into the entrance hall.

"That was a great game," Frederick called out from across the hall where he was standing with Quinn and Harper. "Congratulations to all of you."

"Go ahead without me," Jason told the rest of the team. "I'm gonna talk to them for a while."

"That game was outrageous!" Harper exclaimed as soon as the rest of the Gryffindor team was out of earshot. "Who heard of a game that short. It has to be against the rules."

"I didn't realize you were that invested in Quidditch," Jason replied, shocked at Harper's outburst.

Harper opened his mouth to reply.

"He's not." Frederick cut him off. "He fell asleep in Herbology and Professor Sprout gave him detention today. Since today's match was such a big deal to Hufflepuff she said she was willing to let the detention go during the match. Because it ended so quickly, she told him he has to go to detention now."

"Sprout told me to meet her in the greenhouse in half an hour," Harper said. "She's gonna make me spend the rest of the day caring for the plants."

Jason couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"It's not funny," Harper pouted.

"A five-minute match isn't against the rules," Quinn spoke up. "The shortest match ever was in 1921 when Roderick Plumpton of the Tutshill Tornados caught the Snitch in three and a half seconds in a match against the Caerphilly Catapults."

Quinn looked up to see the other three giving him a strange look.

"What?" he asked. "I was reading up on Quidditch last night."

That got a laugh out of all of them. They were planning on hanging out until Harper had to go to detention, but before they left the entrance hall Harry entered.

Instead of looking happy as he did before, Harry looked distressed. At a look at Harry's face, Jason told the others he would see them later and followed Harry to the Gryffindor Common-room.

"Where have you guys been?" Hermione squeaked as soon when they saw her waiting outside of the common room.

"We won! You won! We won!" shouted Ron, thumping Jason and Harry on the back. "I also gave Malfoy a black eye, and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be fine - talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you guys, we're having a party, Fred and George went down to the kitchens and swiped some cakes and stuff."

"Never mind that now," Harry said breathlessly. "Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this..."

"What's this about?" Hermione whispered to Jason as they followed Harry through the corridors."

"I don't know," Jason replied." I wasn't with him when whatever happened. He came in looking worried. We'll just have to wait and find out."

Eventually, Harry chose a room and after ushering them inside, and checking the room for Peeves, he shut the door.

"On my way back into the castle I saw Snape sneaking out," Harry began. "I followed him to the forbidden forest where he was having a meeting with Professor Quirrell. Snape asked him if he had found out how to get past the three-headed dog, and threatened Quirrell not to cross him. He's using Quirrell to get information so he can steal the stone. He also asked Quirrell about his 'hocus-pocus-" - I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, enchantments, probably, and Quirrell probably put up some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break.

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" Hermione asked in alarm.

"It'll be gone within the week," said Ron.

Quirrell proved his bravery, as he held out for more than a week. Weeks later he was paler and thinner, but he didn't show any signs that he had cracked.

Every time Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione passed the third-floor corridor, they pressed their ears to the door to make sure that Fluffy was still growling inside, and so far they haven't heard anything that worried them. Snape still swept through the hallways in his usual bad temper, which they took as good a sigh as anything that the stone was safe. Harry and Ron both seemed to take it upon themselves to encourage Quirrell, giving him big smiles whenever they saw him and telling off anyone who made fun of him.

Hermione, on the other hand, had more on her mind than the Sorcerer's Stone. She had started to draw up study schedules for all of them and color-coding her notes. Hermione also started to nag Jason, Harry, and Ron to organize their notes and start studying for exams. After Hermione cornered Jason one morning at breakfast he gave in and started to study too. Harry and Ron refused to give in.

"The exams are ages away," Harry complained.

"Ten weeks," Hermione snapped. "That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicolas Flamel."

"But we're not six hundred years old," Ron reminded her. "Anyway what are you studying for Hermione? You already know everything."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ron." Jason peaked up from the notebook he was reviewing. "Glad to hear that you think Hermione has things covered but I don't"

"I didn't mean it like that."

"What am I studying for? Are you crazy? We need to pass these exams to get into the second year! They're the most important tests we're gonna take this year, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's gotten into me..."

The teachers we're thinking along the same lines as Hermione. They piled so much homework on them that they didn't even have a chance to enjoy the Easter holidays. Jason hated to admit it, but Hermione's insisting that he start studying was helpful and he was able to get through the increased homework load at a good pace. Harry and Ron, who hadn't listened to Hermione, didn't have as easy a time of it.

They spent most of their time complaining about the workload, more time than the spent actually working on it. One afternoon while the four of them were studying in the library Ron threw his books and quill to the floor in anger and started ranting about his work. Jason tried to ignore Ron until he said something interesting.

"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

Looking up, Jason saw Hagrid shuffle into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in a library.

"Jus' lookin'," he said, in a shifty voice that got their interest at once. "What're you lot up ter?" he said looking around suspiciously. "Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"We found out who he is ages ago," Ron said impressively. "And we know what that dog's guard, it's a Sorcerer's St -"

"Shhh!" Hagrid looked around quickly to make sure no one was listening to them.  
"Don' go shoutin' about it, what the matter with yeh?"

"We have some questions for you?" Harry said. "About what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -"

"SHHHH!" Hagrid interrupted again. "Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', but don' go rabbitin' around it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -"

"See you later, then," said Harry as Hagrid shuffled off.

"What was he hiding behind his back?" said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?" Jason asked.

"I'll go see what section he was in," said Ron, who was happy to have an excuse to stop working. A minute later he was back with a pile of books.

"Dragons!" he whispered. " Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons!"

"Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I met him," said Harry.

"It's against the law," said Ron. "Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. Dragons tend to draw attention from Muggles. It's too hard to keep them hidden. You can't tame dragons, it's too dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania."

"There aren't any wild ones in Britain are there?" asked Harry.

"Of course there are," Ron replied.

"Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks are both native to Britain." Jason read from one of the books Ron had brought over.

"Yup," Ron confirmed. "The Ministry of Magic has a job housing them up, I can tell you. They've got to keep erasing the memories of Muggles who've spotted dragons all the time."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione asked.


	21. Norbert the Dragon

An hour later, Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were knocking on the door to the gamekeeper's hut. As they approached the hut, they were all shocked to see the curtains drawn closed. When they knocked, Hagrid called out to ask who it was, and when he learned it was them, he ushered them into his hut as fast as possible, opening the door as little as possible to do so, and shutting it closely behind them.

The inside of the hut was stiflingly hot. Even though it was already a warm day out, Hagrid had a roaring fire burning in the fireplace. Hagrid made them sit as he prepared some tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused.

"So - what was it yeh wanted to ask me?

"We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone apart from Fluffy," Harry said without beating around the bush.

Hagrid frowned.

"O' course I can't," he said. "Besides I don' know myself. Also yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. The Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'pose yeh worked that out already? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy."

"Oh, come on, Hagrid," Hermione started in a warm, flattering voice. "You might not want to tell us, but you do know, you know everything that goes on around here". Hagrid's beard twitched as he tried to suppress a smile.

"We're just curious, Hagrid," Jason added in. "Just wondering who had done the guarding. We want to know who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled at this. Jason could see Harry, Ron, and Hermione beaming beside him.

"Well, I don' s'pose it would hurt to tell you who is involved. Let's see ... he borrowed Fluffy from me ... then some o' the teachers did enchantments ... Professor Sprout - Professor Flitwick - Professor McGonagall -'' he counted on his fingers as he spoke, "Professor Quirrell - an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

"Yeah - yer, not all still on abou' that, are yeh? Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

The four of them were all thinking the same thing. If Snape was in on protecting the stone, then he probably knows about how the other teachers had guarded it. He probably knew everything - except Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?" Harry asked, anxiety clear in his voice, but Hagrid didn't seem to pick up on it. "And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore," Hagrid said proudly.

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered to them. "Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling."

"Can't, Harry, sorry," Hagrid responded sheepishly.

"Why not?" Harry asked.

"I'd say that's why," Jason spoke up, pointing to something he had just noticed in the fire.

"Hagrid - what's that?" Harry asked.

The question was pointless, as they all already knew what it was. In the heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a large black egg. A dragon egg.

"Ah," said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard, "That's - er ..."

"How did you get it, Hagrid?" said Ron, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. "It must've cost you a fortune."

"Won it," said Hagrid. "Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. He looked quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest."

"But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?" said Hermione.

"I've bin doin' some readin'," said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow.

"So that's what you were doing in the library?" said Jason.

"Yup," Hagrid continued, "this is Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit. It's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Place the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches to form a bond with them, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here - recognizing diff'rent eggs - what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them."

He looked very pleased with himself, on the other hand, Hermione looked horrified.

"Hagrid, you live in a wooden house," she said, and not too kindly.

Hagrid wasn't listening. He was humming merrily as he stroked the fire.

"That's something new to worry about," Jason said as they were walking back to the castle that evening.

"Wonder what it's like to have a peaceful life," Ron sighed in reply.

The evenings got more busy following that day. Evening after evening they struggled through all the extra homework they were getting. Hermione had finally gotten Harry and Ron to accept the study schedules she made for them and start studying.

One day at breakfast, Hedwig, Harry's owl, brought Harry a note from Hagrid. There were only two words on it: It's hatching.

Ron was insistent that they skip herbology and go straight to Hagrid's hut, but Hermione wouldn't hear of it.

"How many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

"We've got lessons, we'll get into trouble, and that's nothing to what hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing -"

"Shut up!" Harry whispered, at the same time that Jason elbowed Ron in the side to stop him from replying to Hermione.

Malfoy was only a few feet away and had stopped dead to listen. Malfoy had a suspicious look on his face that just screamed that he was up to no good. How much had he heard?

Ron and Hermione's argument lasted the whole trip to Herbology. Jason thought he would be able to put an end to the argument when he told Ron that it can take hours to days for a dragon egg to hatch, he had started reading up on raising dragons to see what type of trouble Hagrid had gotten himself into. That didn't work because Ron just used that information to say that they should spend the whole day in Hagrid's hut to make sure they are there when the egg hatches.

Finally, Ron and Hermione agreed to not skip Herbology but to run to Hagrid's hut during all of their breaks to have the best chances of being present when the egg hatches. When the bell sounded for the end of Herbology, the four of them immediately dropped their trowels and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He rushed them through the door.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Under the surface of the shell, Jason could see something moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They all sat around the table watching with bated breath.

After a few minutes of silence, except for the clicking noise, a scraping noise rang out and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table. The dragon looked like a crumpled piece of black leather. Connected to its front legs were two large spiny wings that were twice the size of its body. It had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns, and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed, shouting a couple of sparks out from its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured, sounding on the brink of tears. He reached out a hand and stroked the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mummy!" Hagrid beamed.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

As Hagrid went to answer, something caught Jason's attention out of the corner of his eye. Jason jumped to his feet, knocking his chair over in the process, and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked as everyone looked at him in alarm.

"There was a face, looking through the gap in the window. Now there's someone running back to the castle," Jason slowly turned to look back at everyone before he gave the worst news. "It was Malfoy. Malfoy saw the dragon."

The color drained from Hagrid's face.

For the next week, Malfoy lurked around with a wide smile on his face that made them all worried. Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent most of their free time in Hagrid's darkened hut, trying to reason with him.

"Just let him go," Harry urged. "Set him free."

"I can't," Hagrid replied.

"You have to," Jason pressed him. "Malfoy knows, he's gonna try to use this against you. Once he's gotten anything he wants from you, he'll turn you in and you'll be in big trouble. Not just with the school, owning a dragon is illegal."

"He's too little," Hagrid pleaded, "He'd die."

They all looked at the dragon. It had grown three times in length in the last week. Smoked kept furling out of its nostrils. The dragon's size change wasn't the only difference. Hagrid hadn't been able to do his gamekeeping duties because the dragon was keeping him too busy. The hut's floor was covered with empty brandy bottles and chicken feathers all over the floor.

"I've decided to call him Norbert," said Hagrid, looking at the dragon with misty eyes. "He really knows me now, watch. Norbert! Norbert! Where's Mummy?"

"He's lost his marbles," Ron muttered to them.

"Hagrid," said Harry loudly, "give it two weeks and Norbert's going to be as long as your house. Malfoy could go to Dumbledore at any moment."

Hagrid bit his lip.

"I - I know I can't keep him forever, but I can't jus' dump him, I can't."

Harry suddenly turned to Ron.

"Charlie," he said.

"You're losing it, too," said Ron. "I'm Ron, remember?"

"No, he's not losing it," Jason spoke up. "Harry you're a genius. Charlie is the answer, Ron. You said your brother studies dragons in Romania."

"Yeah," Harry continued, "We could send Norbert to him. Charlie can take care of him and then put him back in the wild!"

"Brilliant!" said Ron. "How about it, Hagrid?"

Hagrid was hesitant at first, but after a bit of convincing, he agreed that they could send an owl to Charlie to ask him.

The next Wednesday came by and found Jason, Harry, and Hermione sitting alone in the common room long after everyone else had gone to bed. When the clock struck midnight the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Harry's Invisibility Cloak. He had been down at Hagrid's hut, helping him feed Norbert, who was now eating dead rats by the crate.

"It bit me!" he said, showing them his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week."

Ron went on ranting about how Hagrid babies Norbert until there was a tap on the dark window. "It's Hedwig!" said Harry, hurrying to let her in. "She'll have Charlie's answer!"

Charlie had agreed to take Norbert and was sending some friends to pick him up. The only issue was it had to be done from the top of the tallest tower on Saturday night at midnight.

"That shouldn't be too difficult," said Jason. "With Harry's cloak, we should be able to get Norbert up the tower at night."

"I think the cloak is big enough to cover two of us and Norbert," said Harry. "So Saturday night, Ron and I will take Norbert up the tower."

In testament to how bad their week had been in helping Hagrid care for Norbert, they all agreed. Anything to get rid of Norbert - and Malfoy.


	22. Even the Best Laid Plans

The next morning, the plan to rid themselves of Norbert was put in danger. When they woke up, Ron's bitten hand had swollen up to twice its usual size. They didn't want to risk bringing him to the hospital wing, worrying that Madam Pomfrey would recognize a dragon bite, but the choice was taken away from them in the afternoon. Ron's cut had turned a nasty shade of green. It turned out that Norbert's fangs were poisonous.

At the end of the day, Jason, Harry, and Hermione rushed to the hospital wing to find Ron in a terrible state.

"It's not just my hand," he whispered, "although that feels like it's about to fall off. Malfoy made an excuse to come and have a good laugh at me. He kept threatening to tell Madam Pomfrey what really bit me - I've told her it was a dog, but I don't think she believes me - I shouldn't have fought Malfoy at the Quidditch match, that's why he's doing this."

The three of them tried to calm Ron down, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"It'll all be over at midnight on Saturday," Hermione tried, but that didn't soothe Ron at all. In fact, it only made things worse, as Ron bolted upright and broke into a sweat.

"Midnight on Saturday!" he said in a hoarse voice. "Oh no - oh no - I've just remembered - Charlie's letter was in a book that Malfoy took. His excuse to see me was that he needed to borrow a book. He's going to know we're getting rid of Norbert."

"We'll just have to deal with this," Jason assured Ron. "Don't worry, we will get through this, and then we won't have to worry about any bloody dragons anymore."

Ron opened his mouth to survive, but they never heard what he had to say, as Madam Pomfrey came over. She made them leave, saying that Ron needed sleep.

"It's too late to change the plan now," Harry told them as they made their way out of the castle to find Hagrid and tell him about Charlie's letter. "We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl, and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we have got the Invisibility Cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that. Since Ron can't go, Jason will go with me."

"And we'll be sure we're extra careful," Jason added.

Fang was sitting outside with a bandaged tail when they reached Hagrid's hut. When they knocked, Hagrid only opened the window to speak with them.

"I won't let you in," he puffed. "Norbert's at a tricky stage - nothin' I can't handle."

When they told Hagrid about Charlie's letter, he started to cry. Although they couldn't tell if he was crying because Norbert was being taken away, or because Norbert had just bit his leg.

"Aargh! It's all right, it was jus' on my boot, he's jus' playing. He's only a baby, after all."

The huts windows raddled as the baby banged its tail on the wall. On the way back to the castle, all Jason could think was that he couldn't wait for Saturday to come.

The plan went astray once again on Saturday. They had spent the day worrying about what they had to do. Jason felt confident that with the Invisibility Cloak they would be able to get Norbert to Charlie's friends and back to the Common Room undetected. By the time they went for lunch, Jason was more worried about how Hagrid would handle having to say goodbye to Norbert. He was thinking of ways to cheer up Hagrid once Norbert was gone when he was interrupted.

"Hey Jason, want to play some chess?"

Jason looked up to see Quinn and Harper standing next to him.

"I heard Ron was in the hospital wing," Harper said. "When he gets out I'm planning on challenging him to a match and finally beating him, so I need some practice."

"Good luck with that," Jason laughed.

"I don't think he can do it," Quinn spoke up, "but it's gonna be fun to watch him get beat again."

"So," Harper began, "You gonna help me practice?"

"Sure," Jason responded. This seemed like a good way to get his mind off of tonight.

They were in the middle of a match when Frederick approached them and handed Jason a letter.

"This is from Professor Flitwick," Frederick said. "He said to make sure you read it right away."

Jason unfolded it the right way and felt his heart sink.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go," he told the others as he got up and started looking for Harry and Hermione.

He found the two of them trying to study in the library, but it didn't look like they were getting much done. He knew they were probably too worried about tonight and hated that he had to give them bad news.

"We have a problem," Jason said, taking a seat next to Hermione. "I just got a letter from Flitwick. I can't help with Norbert tonight."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked with panic in her voice.

"Flitwick's letter said he's going to be teaching me more dueling skills. We're going to practice every other night and practice will go past midnight. He gave me a card signed by Dumbledore himself allowing me to be out past curfew. He wants to start tonight."

"What does that mean for the plan?" asked Harry.

"The two of you will have to do it," Jason said, looking back and forth between Harry and Hermione.

At eight forty on Saturday night, Jason wished Harry and Hermione good luck with Norbert and made his way out of the Gryffindor Common room. He arrived at the Charms Classroom just before nine o'clock. When he knocked on the door he was greeted with a kind "come in," from Professor Flitwick.

When Jason opened the door he saw that Professor Flitwick had cleared an area in the room for them to practice in. There was also a wooden practice doll, Jason assumed they would be using for target practice.

"Ahh, Welcome Mr. Fortescue," Flitwick greeted him with a smile. "I hope you're ready to get to work. We have a lot to cover in these sessions and I don't want to waste any time. Our previous sessions were just about teaching you spells useful in dueling, in these we're going to have to go over the basics of technique, stances, and procedure that I didn't have time to teach you ... of course, we will be including some more practical dueling spells."

"That all sounds good to me sir, but what is this about?" Jason asked. "I thought it was risky enough to teach me last time when no one thought you were doing it, but Professor Snape already suspects that you did it back then, you're more likely to get in trouble now."

Flitwick laughed.

"No need for secrecy this time, although probably for the best that not too many students find out about these lessons, I was asked to teach you more dueling skills this time."

"Asked?" Jason said in confusion. "By who?"

"None other than Professor Dumbledore," Flitwick responded with a grin. "How else do you think I got a pass signed by him for you to be out past curfew."

"Why would he do that?" Jason asked, more confused than ever.

"To tell you the truth ... I don't know. Professor Dumbledore came to see me in my office the other day with the pass and asked me to teach you, he even mentioned the possibility of having Professor Snape teach you if I wasn't willing to. All he would say when I asked why was that 'the day may soon come when he needs the skill of a duelist and at Hogwarts, our job is to provide all students with the skills they need, even if they don't understand why they need them.' But enough about that! Now it's time to get to work."

Professor Flitwick started their lesson by having Jason perform the disarming charm and the shield charm over and over again. Every time Jason cast them, Flitwick would comment on his stance and movements. Telling him what corrections to make and how to improve his technique.

After about an hour and a half of working on his technique, they took a break in which time Flitwick taught Jason about the standard procedures involved in dueling. He also gave Jason a lecture on the history of professional dueling and had him read accounts of famous duels throughout history.

When they were done with that, Professor Flitwick had Jason work on his aim. Flitwick would call out a location on the practice doll and Jason would have to hit it within five seconds. Flitwick also had Jason turn his back while he set up jars around the room. When Flitwick finished, Jason would turn around and have to hit all of the jars while Flitwick timed him.

As it grew later into the night, Flitwick finished off by showing Jason some drills to work on his technique and stances. "Our next session will be Monday night," Professor Flitwick said after he had Jason run through the drills for about an hour. "Until then work these drills for an hour in the mornings and at nights. You should do this every day, regardless of if we are practicing that day or not. Also, I want you to read a chapter of your choice from this book before our next session. On that note, it's rather late so we will call it here."

Professor Flitwick dropped a large leather-bound volume on a desk next to Jason. The book was Duels that Changed the Course of History and had eyewitness reports and analysis of important duels dating back to the fifteen hundreds.

"Ok," Jason said as he picked up the book, "Thank you for the lesson Professor. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mr. Fortescue," Flitwick called out as Jason left the room.

It was around one-thirty in the morning when Jason got back to the Gryffindor common room. In a tired haze, he stumbled through the portrait hole and made his way to the first-year boys' dormitory. When he opened the door to the dormitory the first thing he noticed was that Neville was crying. Looking around the room he saw Harry sit up. Jason wanted to know how things went with Norbert, and why Neville was crying, but the look in Harry's eye told him that things didn't go well, and Harry didn't want to talk about it at the moment.

Jason was worried, but he knew that at the moment there was nothing he could do, and even if there was anything, he was too tired to be of much help. For now, he got into bed, still fully dressed, and drifted off to sleep.


	23. Shaken Resolve

The next morning after everyone else left their dormitory, Harry explained to Jason what had happened. Harry and Hermione got caught after they dropped off Norbert with Charlie's friends, they left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tallest tower. Then when they were brought to Professor McGonagall's office they found out that Neville had snuck out to stop Malfoy from turning them in and got caught as well. The worst news of all was that in punishment, Harry, Hermione, and Neville were all given detention, and each lost fifty points for Gryffindor. Losing a total of one hundred and fifty points and dropping Gryffindor from first place to last.

Gryffindors passing the hourglasses that recorded the House points at breakfast thought there'd been a mistake. Almost everyone was sure there was a mistake. How could they have lost a hundred and fifty points in one night? Then the stories started. They varied wildly and each student would tell a different story, but every story had one thing in common. The famous Harry Potter and a couple of stupid first years lost all of the points.

Harry was suddenly the most hated person at Hogwarts. The Gryffindors all hated him for ruining their chance at winning the House Cup that year. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs turned on Harry because they were longing to see Slytherin lose the House Cup. The only ones that seemed happy with Harry were the Slytherins, who whistled, clapped, and thanked him every time he walked by.

Jason and Ron both stood up for Harry, trying to convince him that it would all blow over eventually, but that only put them in the crosshairs of the rest of the school. Slowly but surely people stopped talking to Jason and Ron as they continued to associate with Harry. More than once, people had come to Jason and directly told him to stop talking to Harry or it would "ruin his image." At first, Jason outright ignored them, but the more people told him to and the worse people treated him, Jason did feel tempted at times to give Harry a wide berth until everyone forgave Harry.

Hermione and Neville were also miserable. They were less well known than Harry so they had an easier time than him, but none of the other Gryffindors were willing to talk with either of them. Hermione stopped drawing attention to herself in class, no longer answering questions, and hardly looking up from her work. Neville constantly looked like he was going to burst into tears at any moment. He was inconsolable and neither Jason nor Ron could cheer him up. Neville rarely even spoke to them when they tried to console him and completely refused to speak about what happened that night. From all Jason could tell, Neville was mad at Harry and Hermione and none of them were willing to talk about why.

Since no one was willing to talk to them anyway, Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ended up keeping to themselves. They spent a lot of time studying in the library to avoid people. They spent hours upon hours memorizing ingredients in complicated potions, learning charms and spells, and reviewing dates of magical discoveries and goblin rebellions. If there was one good thing that came out of their situation it was that they were all on track to pass all their exams.

Jason was also partially glad they had started to focus more on their school life, as without their additional adventuring and sticking their noses where they didn't belong he was able to keep a more balanced schedule. Between studying for exams, Quidditch practice, and his dueling lessons with Professor Flitwick, Jason didn't have much more time he could have devoted to whatever trouble they would be getting themselves in any way.

Jason's life found a happy balance this way and there was no temptation to get into trouble. One day, about a week before exams, Jason sat in the library reading the book Professor Flitwick had given him in preparation for their lesson the next night and he had picked out a pretty interesting chapter. Next to him, he could hear Hermione testing Ron on Astronomy when Harry approached.

"Big trouble," Harry said, taking a seat next to Jason. "I just saw Quirrell leave a room. He was pale and on the verge of tears. When I checked the room he came from, another door to the room was open. I'm sure it was Snape. Professor Quirrell finally broke."

"Snape's done it, then!" said Ron. "If Quirrell's told him how to break his Anti-Dark Force spell -"

"There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione.

"I mean yeah there still is Fluffy," Jason said, putting down his book, "but I'm sure there are other ways to find out how to get past a three-headed dog without asking Hagrid."

Ron looked up at the thousands of books surrounding them. "I bet there's a book somewhere in here that would help with that. So what do we do, Harry?"

The light of adventure was kindling in Ron's eyes, but Hermoine answered first.

"Go to Dumbledore. That's what we should have done ages ago. Trying anything ourselves will just get us thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no proof!" said Harry. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the trolls got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor."

"Besides," Jason added, "Who would believe us over a Professor? Not even Hagrid trusts us that Snape is up to no good. Also, it's no secret that we don't have a good relationship with Snape. Professor Dumbledore would probably think we were trying to get Snape sacked."

"Anyway," Harry continued, "We're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

"Then it sounds like we need to do a bit of poking around," Ron said hopefully.

"No," Harry stated flatly, "we've done enough poking around."

Harry pulled a map of Jupiter toward him. Sensing that the conversation was over, Hermione and Ron continued their studying and Jason went back to his book.

The next morning, Harry, Hermione, and Neville received notes calling them for detention that night. Later that night when Jason left the common room to go meet Professor Flitwick for their lesson he wished them good luck. Their detention was with Mr. Flich, and if Fred and George were to be believed, that could be very ... unpleasant.

When Jason's lesson with Professor Flitwick went about the same as all of their others. Flitwick started him out working on his stances and technique. Flitwick then, once again, quizzed Jason on standard dueling procedures. Once that was over, they discussed the chapter from Duels that Changed the Course of History, that Jason read for that lesson.

"So which chapter did you read this time?" Flitwick asked. "There are still quite a few interesting duels in those pages."

"I chose a duel that I didn't even think would be in this book," Jason replied. "It's a pretty recent duel compared to the rest and based on the description the most brilliant one. The nineteen forty-five duel between Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald."

"Ahh," Flitwick smiled, "I've been wondering when you would reach that one. It may be recent compared to the others, but it is still an important historic duel. What did you think?"

"The description and analysis were brilliant. The eyewitness described it as the most awe-inspiring duel they'd ever seen. A part that especially caught my eye was Dumbledore's use of the Reductor Curse."

"That is one of the more genius applications of the spell. He first used the Locomotion Charm to send nearby debris at Grindelwald, and then using the Reductor Curse turned them to dust to obstruct Grindelwald's vision. Grindelwald was extremely talented at spell deflection so that allowed Dumbledor to get a hit through Gridndelwald's defenses. I won't be teaching you the Reductor Curse, as it's a very dangerous spell, but I can teach you the Locomotion charm. It has many useful applications in duels, from throwing things at your opponent to locking their legs in place."

They reviewed the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, looking at the strategic choices they each made. They also analyzed the different ways Dumbledore and Grindelwald used common spells for more complex attacks. Once they finished talking about the duel, they moved on to target practice and working on Jason's aim. They finished up the night with a lesson on Locomotor, the Locomotion Charm, and using it in the spell Locomotor Mortis to trip an opponent.

They finished up the lesson by having Jason run through his drills for a while. And then they dueled. They had been dueling after the last few sessions, and they all ended the same way. With Jason's wand getting launched across the room. "That will be enough," Flitwick told Jason as he went to retrieve his wand. " You've improved greatly since our first duel. Believe me when I say that you have the potential to be a great duelist one day. It's getting late and we made a bit of a mess while practicing Locomotor. You wouldn't mind helping me clean up? would you?"

"Of course not Professor," Jason said as he got to work cleaning.

"Oh before I forget. This will be our last lesson."

"Really?" Jason asked, surprised.

"When Dumbledore asked me to teach you," Flitwick explained, "he told me that I would only be training you until the week before exams. He probably wants you to focus on exams from now on. I assume we will be picking these lessons back up next year. You should finish the duels in the book by yourself, and if you have any questions on them feel free to come ask me."

"Thank you, Professor," Jason said. Remembering that Dumbledore had asked Flitwick to teach Jason these lessons a question came to him. "Professor, can I ask you something?"

"You just did," Flitwick laughed. "If you would like to ask another question you can."

"You said that Professor Dumbledore had asked you to teach me and that he said that if you wouldn't he would as Professor Snape. Why would Professor Snape be his second choice?"

"Well you may not know this," Flitwick answered, "but Professor Snape, even though he was never formally trained in dueling, he is an outstanding duelist."

"But would Professor Dumbledore really trust Professor Snape?" Jason asked. "I mean what if he hurt a student during a training session? Or even outside of one? What if a student got in Snape's way or just got on his bad side?"

"Well I wouldn't worry about that," Flitwick reassured Jason. "Professor Snape may seem harsh, but he would never harm a student."

Jason tried and failed to hide the doubt from his face.

"It may seem hard to believe from Snape's not so sunny disposition, especially when students are involved," Fltiwitck sat down in a nearby chair, "but trust me when I say that Snape would never harm a student. In fact, he would do anything to protect his students. All of us Professors would."

Jason must have still not looked convinced because Fltitwick added one more thing.

"Professor Dumbledore knows everything that goes on in Hogwarts, and Professor Snape has Dumbledore's complete trust. If he had done anything to make Professor Dumbledore think he would harm a student then Dumbledore would never let him teach here, let alone make him the head of a house. Dumbledore trusts Snape and that should be enough for us."

"Thank you, Professor," Jason said, making his way to the door. "Goodnight," he called out as he closed the door behind him.

From what Flitwick says, Jason thought, Snape is trustworthy, and if he wasn't Dumbledore would know. So does that mean that Snape isn't the one trying to steal the Stone? and if he's not, who is?


	24. Exams

It was just before two in the morning when Jason got back to the Gryffindor common room. He was greeted by the sound of snoring and saw that Ron was sound asleep in one of the chairs near the fireplace. Jason sat down in a chair next to him to think.

He had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't tell the others about his conversation with Flitwick. Based on what Flitwick said, Jason was confident that Snape wasn't the one trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, but he was still involved somehow. Dumbledore definitely trusted the heads of houses and that included Snape, and Dumbledore's decision to have Snape be Jason's backup dueling tutor showed Jason they were wrong to suspect Snape.

Flitwick said that Dumbledore knows everything that goes on in Hogwarts, Jason thought. So that means that he knows what we were looking into and having Snape as a possible tutor for me was a hint. He was showing me that he trusts Snape and I should too.

That line of thinking brought up another question. Why would Dumbledore think Jason needed dueling training? Does one of the Stone's protections involve dueling?

Jason's thoughts were interrupted when the portrait hole swung open, revealing Harry and Hermione. Harry barreled into the room, upon seeing Jason and Ron, who was still sound asleep, he came right over. Harry had a panicked look in his eyes, while Hermione looked confused. He violently shook Ron awake and as soon as Ron's eyes were open Harry took off talking.

"Snape wants the Stone for Voldemort ... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest ... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich...."

"Stop saying the name!" Ron said in a terrified whisper.

Harry didn't hear a word he said. Instead, he went on a long rant, it took a while but, with help from Hermione, Jason and Ron figured out what he was talking about.

Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Malfoy served detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. While in the forest, Harry was attacked by a cloaked figure and a centaur named Firenze saved him. Another centaur named Bane got mad at Firenze for saving Harry, saying Frinze interrupted the future they predicted from the stars. Firenze identified the cloaked figure as Voldemort, saying that he was using unicorn blood to stop himself from dying until he could get the Stone to fully restore his life. He also guessed that the future Bane talked about was that Voldemort would kill him.

Harry was sure that Snape was trying to steal the Stone for Voldemort, Jason considered telling them that he didn't think it was Snape trying to steal the stone anymore, but once again decided to keep his mouth shut.

"Will you stop saying the name!" was all Ron had to say when Harry finished.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry said feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off ... Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you."

"Besides," Jason added in, "who can say the centaurs are right? Reading the stars is a form of fortune-telling, which is known to be very imprecise magic."

The sun was starting to rise by the time they stopped talking. They went to bed exhausted. After quickly changing into his sleepwear, Jason collapsed into his bed and was met by a sharp pain in his back. He moved the covers to reveal a book. The book was called Extreme Incantations. A specific chapter was marked in the book: The Reductor Curse.

Following that night, Jason would sneak off to practice the Reductor Curse. Someone was making sure he could learn the spell and Jason had an idea who it was. Even after reading through the chapter on the Reductor Curse, and practicing it at every chance he could, he still never managed to correctly cast the spell. Reducto is a very powerful spell, but it's also extremely difficult to learn.

Not long into his attempts to learn Reducto, he had to put it on hold. Final exams had started. Jason spent his mornings in a swelteringly hot classroom working on written exams and his evenings in practical exams.

Professor Flitwick had them make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk. Professor McGonagall had them turn a mouse into a snuffbox - points were given for how pretty the snuffbox was but taken away if it had whiskers. Snape made them brew Forgetfulness potions, while he breathed down their necks.

Exams kept Jason so busy that he didn't have time to work on the Reductor Curse, let alone to worry about the Stone. He was still worried, especially considering Harry's revelation that Voldemort was somehow involved in the plot to steal the Stone, but between spending his days taking exams and his nights preparing for the next one, he didn't really have time to think about it.

Ron and Hermoine seemed to mostly be of the same mind as Jason. They were worried about Voldemort but still focused on exams. Harry on the other hand seemed to be struggling. He hardly slept at night and during exams seemed to have trouble concentrating.

The last exam was History of Magic. After an hour of answering questions about mostly obscure wizards and inventions, they were finally free. The best part was they would now have a whole week of free time until exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and turn in their parchment, all of the students in the room began to cheer.

"That was far easier than I thought it would be," said Hermione as they joined the crowds of students flocking out onto the sunny ground. "I needn't have learned about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager."

Hermione always liked to talk over the exams afterward, but Ron said it made him feel ill, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan were poking a giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows, with sticks.

"No more studying," Ron sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. "You could look more cheerful, Harry."

"You definitely look happy Ron," Jason laughed. "You get a week before you find out how bad you did."

Ron and Hermione both laughed, but Harry just sat there rubbing his forehead.

"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pomfrey," Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning ... it means danger's coming ..."

"Harry, relax, Hermione's right," Ron tried to reassure him. "The Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found a way past Fluffy. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"Not only do we not have proof Snape has a way past Fluffy," Jason spoke up. "We don't even have proof that Snape is trying to steal the Stone."

The others looked at Jason as if he was crazy, but he was still sure that Snape wasn't the one trying to steal the Stone.

The conversation continued as Harry explained that he felt like he was forgetting something. Hermione suspected that it was just leftover tension from exams and a peaceful silence settled over them.

Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"What's the matter?" Jason asked, alarmed.

"I've just thought of something," Harry said, turning white. "We've got to go and see Hagrid now."

"Why?" panted Hermione, hurrying to keep up as they all jumped to their feet, running after Harry.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," Harry said, scrambling up the grassy slope, "Hagrid wanted a dragon more than anything, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? They were trying to get rid of it and just so happened to find Hagrid? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, but Harry sprinted across the grounds toward the forest without answering.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house, shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron.

Jason elbowed him in the side. "Not the time," he whispered.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, the night you won Norbert, what did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off."

He saw the four of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head - that's one o' the pubs down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

"What did you talk to him about Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid.

"Did he ask what kind of creature experience you had?" Jason asked, seeing where Harry was going with this.

"He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after," frowning as he tried to remember. "So I told him ... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon ... an' then ... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks.... Let's see .. yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted ... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home.... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

"Did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked.

"Well - yeah - how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep -"

Harry looked horrified. Jason felt his mouth drop.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh goin'?"

Jason, Harry, Hermione, and Ron didn't speak to each other until they came to a halt in the entrance hall.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that strange how to get past Fluffy. It must have been Snape or Dumbledore under that cloak."

Or whoever is actually trying to steal the Stone for Voldemort, Jason thought to himself.

"Where is Dumbledore's office?" Jason asked.

None of them knew where his office was. They were just about to start searching the school when Professor McGonagall came upon them.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," Hermione blurted out before anyone could say anything.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" McGonagall repeated. "Why?"

"It's sort of secret," Harry responded, making McGonagall look annoyed.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

They all exchanged worried looks.

"Look," said Jason, knowing that keeping things to themselves wouldn't help. "It's about the Sorcerer's Stone. We think someone is going to try to steal it."

McGonagall dropped the books she was carrying.

"I've no idea how you know about the Stone, but rest assured it is too well protected to be stolen." She gathered her books and left.

"It's tonight," Harry said once McGonagall was out of earshot. "Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight."

"No one is going to believe us," Jason said. "If we want to protect the Stone, we have to get to it first."


	25. The First Challenges

After dinner the four of them sat nervously in the common room. Nobody bothered them. All of the Gryffindors were still avoiding anyone close to Harry and Hermione, but this time, they didn't care that nobody talked to them. They all wanted to be alone in anticipation of what would happen that night.

Hermione sat skimming through all her notes, hoping that she would find something that would be useful. Harry and Ron didn't talk much. Jason was trying to focus. He wanted to center himself as he did before a Quidditch match, if they were going to face the dangers of breaking into a highly protected vault, he was going to need the void.

The room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the Cloak," Ron muttered, as the last of the students left the common room. Harry and Jason both headed up to their dormitory, as Harry went to his trunk, Jason went to his and pulled out the harp that Hagrid had given him for Christmas.

The two of them made their way back down to the common room.

"We'd better put the Cloak on here, and make sure it covers all four of us - if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own - "

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hiding the Cloak behind his back.

Neville didn't believe them.

"You're going out again," he said.

"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

"Don't worry," Jason added. "We're done making trouble. Just gonna keep our heads down until Summer starts."

"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

"You don't understand," said Harry, "this is important."

"I won't let you do it," Neville replied, moving to stand in front of the portrait hole and raising his fists. "I'll - I'll fight you!"

"Neville," Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot -"

"Don't call me an idiot! I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"You have to give him that one," Jason whispered to the others. "He learned that lesson well."

"Yes, but not to us," said Ron in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."

"Do something," Harry whispered to Hermione, desperately.

Hermione stepped forward.

"Neville," she said, "I'm really, really sorry about this."  
She raised her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, pointing it at Neville.

Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stooped and fell flat on his face, stiff as aboard.

Jason and Hermione both moved to flip Neville over, lying him face up.

"Nice one," Jason said to Hermione.

"It's the full Body-Bind," said Hermione miserably. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Harry.

"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the Invisibility Cloak.

The Cloak was tight with all four of them. As they traveled down the corridors, they could only take small steps to stay covered by the cloak, but that made them bump into each other more. When they reached the first staircase, Hermione stopped short in front of Jason, causing him to bump into her and fall to the ground. He scrambled back onto his feet and into the invisibility cloak again, just in time for Mrs. Norris to come prowling through the corridor.

They all stood with bated breath for several minutes, until the cat lost interest and walked away. After waiting a few minutes to be sure she was gone, they continued on to the third-floor corridor.

They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase up to the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

"Who's there?" he said suddenly as they climbed toward him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. "Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beasties?"

He rose up in the air, staring directly at where they stood.

"Should call Filch, I should if something's a-creeping around unseen."

Before Jason knew what he was doing, he started to stalk in a whose whisper.

"Peeves," he said, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible."

Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot off the stairs.

"So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr. Baron, sir," he said greasily. "My mistake, my mistake. Forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir."

"I have business here, Peeves," Jason continued impersonating the Bloody Baron. "Stay away from this place tonight."

"I will sir, I most certainly will. Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you.  
Peeves scooted off.

A few seconds later, they were standing outside of the third-floor corridor - and the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are," Harry whispered, "He's already got past Fluffy."

A moment of silence passed over the four of them before Harry turned around.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," he said. "You can take the Cloak, I won't need it now."

"I'm in all the way," said Jason.

"Don't be stupid," said Ron.

"We're coming," said Hermione.

Harry pushed the door open.

As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffled madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.

"What's that at its feet?" Hermione whispered.

"It's a harp," Jason answered. "He must've used it to get past Fluffy. Well, here goes nothing ..."

Jason raised the harp Hagrid gave him and started playing. From the first note, the beast's eyes began to droop. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," both Ron and Harry told Jason as they slipped out of the Cloak and crept toward the trapdoor.

Jason kept playing as Harry, Ron, and Hermione carefully stepped over Fluffy's paws and pulled open the door.

"What can you see?" Hermione anxiously asked Ron, who was staring down the opening.

"Nothing - just black - there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

"I'll go first," Harry volunteered.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked. "I don't know how deep this thing goes."

Harry lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. He looked up at them and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"See you in a minute, I hope ..."

Harry let go.

Jason watched Harry plummet through the opening and disappear into the darkness.

"It's okay!" Harry yelled up after a minute.

"So ... who's next?" Ron asked. "How about you Jason?"

"Do either of you know how to play the harp?" Jason asked. "Unless you want to deal with Fluffy, I should probably go last."

"Fine," Ron replied as she stepped up to the trapdoor. He sat on the edge with his legs hanging down through the opening and pushed himself through.

When Harry called out that it was clear, Hermione moved for the opening.

"Wish me luck," She said to Jason as she sat down on the edge of the trapdoor.

"Good luck," Jason smiled.

Hermione smiled back as pushed herself through the opening.

"Come on, Jason!" Harry yelled after a minute.

Jason stepped up to the trapdoor. Looking down he saw nothing but darkness.

He stepped into the opening and let the darkness surround him.

Jason landed on something soft with a muffled thump. He couldn't really see what was around him in the dark, but it felt like he was covered in plants.

"Well that was fun," Jason said with a grin.

"We must be miles under the school," said Hermione.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"Lucky!" Shocked Hermione. "Look at you both!"

Hermione leaped up and struggled toward a damp wall. As she moved, the plant started to twist snake-like tendrils around her ankles. Seeing her move, Jason noticed that the plant was moving around him too, and he pulled himself away towards another wall. It was too late for Harry and Ron, both of their legs were already tightly bound by the tendrils.

Jason and Hermione both had made it out of the plant's grip, leaving them to watch in horror as Harry and Ron struggled to break free. The more they fought against the plant, the tighter around them the plant wound itself.

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered. "I know what this is - it's Devil's Snare!"

"Oh, I'm so glad we know what it's called, that's a great help," snarled Ron, as the plant tried to curl itself around his neck.

"How do we get past it?" Jason asked her.

"Shut up, I'm trying to remember how to kill it!" she snapped.

"Well, hurry up, I can't breathe!" Harry gasped, wrestling with a tendril wrapping around his chest.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare ... What did Professor Sprout say? - it likes the dark and damp -"

"So light a fire!" Harry choked

"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"Use your wand," Jason told her. Ron wasn't as gentle.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" he shouted. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione as she whipped out her wand. She waved her wand in the air while muttering a spell under her breath that sent a jet of blue flames out of the tip. The plant shied away, wriggling and flailing away from the fire. Eventually, it unraveled itself from Harry and Ron's bodies allowing them to pull free.

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Hermione," said Harry as they all joined Hermione.

"And it's a good thing you found some wood," Jason teased Hermione.

"Seriously," Ron added, "'there's no wood,' honestly."

"Shut it! That was a stressful situation!" Hermione snapped back.

"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway.

The passageway sloped gently downwards. Apart from their footsteps, all they could hear was the drip of water trickling down the walls.

"Can you hear something?" Ron whispered after a while.

There was a faint rustling and clinking sound emanating from further down the passageway.

"Do you think it's a ghost?" Harry asked.

"No, not a ghost," Jason replied. "The rustling sounds like wings to me, but I don't know what the clinking is."

"There's light ahead - I can see something moving."

At the end of the passageway, there was a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

Expecting the birds to attack them when they crossed the room, Jason went first, covering his face with his arms and charging across the room.

Nothing happened.

When he reached the wooden door, Jason tried to pull it open, but it was locked. He signaled for the other three to join him, but even with all four of them pulling, the door didn't budge. Not even the Alohomora Charm worked.

"Now what?" said Ron."

"These birds ... they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

The four of them watched the birds flying overhead. They traveled in a large circle around the room, their wings flapping and their bodies glittering - glittering?"

"I get it," Jason said after a minute. "Those aren't birds ... they're keys!"


	26. The Key to Chess

"What do you mean, Keys?" Hermione asked as Ron and Harry squinted up at them.

"Check the door," Jason told them. "One of the keys must match the lock and I'm sure ... there!" He spotted two broomsticks on the far side of the camber.

"Does that mean?" Harry said thoughtfully, "we have to catch the key to the door? But there are hundreds of them! Which one do we choose."

Ron examined the lock on the door.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one - probably silver, like the handle."

"How do we go about this?" Hermione asked. "There's only two brooms, so it seems obvious that Harry and Jason should be the ones going after the key, but there has to be more to the trial. They'll probably attack when we find the right key, or maybe even when we get on the brooms."

"Harry, you'll go for the key," Jason said. "I'll run interference. When they go for you, I'll block them until we get the door open. Once it's open, all of you get through, and once I'm through slam the door shut."

"That's putting you in too much danger," Harry protested.

"You're the seeker, and I'm the chaser. A chaser's main job is the score points, but everyone on the team has a second job, keeping the seeker safe."

Without leaving time for Harry to respond, Jason walked over to the brooms and grabbed one. The keys started to move in Jason's direction. He quickly let go of the broom and the keys continued flying around the room.

"We can't really see the key like this, but probably won't be coming after us on the brooms," Jason said. "It'll probably try to stay out of reach. Harry, don't get on your broom until you spot the key. Once you see it get on and grab it quickly. I'll keep the keys moving around the room so it thins out in some places. That should let you see more and find the right key."

Jason grabbed a broom and pushed up into the air.

The keys instantly started to chase after him. He tried to stay in front of them, but there were so many that he couldn't outrun them all. He tried to use one arm to knock keys away from his face, but that left the rest of his body exposed.

They jammed against his body and scrapped his arms, chest, stomach, and back. They felt like cold daggers slicing across his body. Jason gritted his teeth and bared it. He knew that only a minute had passed, but it felt like an eternity when Harry called out that he saw the key. To his side, Jason saw Harry rocket up into the air after the key.

Some of the keys started to peel off from chasing Jason and went after Harry. Before they reached him, Jason pulled up on his broom and got between them and Harry. Jason flew in formation with Harry, using his body to block the keys as they chased after Harry.

Eventually, the key that Harry was chasing made a dive and Harry followed after it. He reached out his hand and grabbed the key. Once Harry had the key in hand, he flew straight for the door and jumped off his broom. Jason continued to fly back and forth, blocking all the keys that went for Harry as he fiddled with the lock.

Once Harry unlocked the door, Ron and Hermione pulled it open and rushed through.

"It's open! Come on!" Harry yelled as he rushed through the door.

Jason flew towards the open door and just before reaching it, he jumped off his broom.

The ground was cold, as Jason crashed against it and slid a few feet. Behind him, Jason heard Harry, Ron, and Hermione slam the door shut. A moment later he heard some of the keys slam against the closed door.

Jason clambered to his feet in complete darkness. He heard the others moving around him, and when they stepped past him light suddenly flooded the room, revealing an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chess pieces, which were taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Across the board were a set of white pieces. The sight of the pieces made them shiver as they were stared down by giant, stone, faceless figures.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron, pointing to a large wooden door behind the white pieces. "We've got to play our way across the room."

"How?" said Hermoine nervously.

"I think," Jason spoke up, "we're going to have to be chessmen."

Ron nodded in agreement. He then stepped up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch it's horse. The stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Ron.

"Do we - er - have to join you to get across?"

The black knight nodded. Ron turned to the rest of them.

"This needs thinking about ..." he said. "I suppose we've got to take the place of four of the black pieces ... Now don't be offended or anything, but none of you are that good at chess -"

"We're not offended," said Jason. "Just tell us what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go there instead of that castle, oh and Jason, you take the other bishop spot."

"What about you?" Harry asked.

"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.

The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because as Ron said this, two bishops, a knight, and a castle made their way off the board. Jason, Harry, Ron, and Hermione took the four vacated spaces.

"And now?" Hermione asked.

"White always plays first in chess," said Ron, peering across the board. "Yes ... look ..."

A white pawn moved forward two spaces.

Ron started to direct the black pieces.

They moved silently wherever he sent them. Jason tried to focus, but he was worried.

What happens if we lose? He thought.

The first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Guess this isn't any ordinary game of chess," Jason said in shock.

"Had to let that happen," said Ron looking shaken. "Leaves Hermione free to take that bishop, Hermione, go on."

The white pieces showed no mercy every time one of their men was taken. Their black pieces were brutally beaten and left in a pile along the side of the board. More than once, Ron just barely noticed in time that one of them was in danger and moved a piece to protect them. He used them conservatively, but Ron himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think - let me think ..."

The white queen turned her blank face towards Ron.

"NO!" Harry and Hermione shouted.

"There has to be another way!" Jason protested trying to think of another move.

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I'll make my move and she'll take me, then Jason, you take the queen. On their move, their knight should take that pawn, leaving Harry free to checkmate the king!"

"And what if their knight doesn't do that?" Jason asked.

"Then you take over for me. I wouldn't be leaving you in a bad position, I know you'd be able to win this Jason, but I have to be sacrificed for any situation in which we win."

Jason wanted to protest but he knew there was no alternative.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go - now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward, and the withe queen punched. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, he crashed to the floor - Hermione screamed but stayed on her square - the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

Jason walked four spaces diagonally to his right and touched the white queen. At his touch, she turned and moved off the board. Jason turned to face the remaining white knight and held his breath. If it took the pawn, then they won, but if it didn't, the game would continue.

The white knight started to move and took the pawn that Ron had indicated. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jason indicated for Harry to move.

Visibly shaking, Harry moved three spaces to his left.

The withe king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They won. The white pieces parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last look back at Ron, they continued onwards through the door.

Hermione was shaking as they walked.

"He'll be alright," said Jason, placing his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

She showed a weak smile but stopped shaking.

"What do you reckon's next?" Harry asked.

"We've had Sprout's," Hermione started, "that was the Devil's Snare; Madam Hooch's was probably catching the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, Whatever Flitwick did, and Snape's ..."

They reached another door.

"All right?" Harry whispered.

"Let's do this," Jason responded.

They pushed the door open.

Suddenly it all made sense.

Dumbledore knew that they would end up coming here. The lessons weren't just about showing Jason that Snape wasn't after the stone. Dumbledore told Flitwick that Jason might one day need dueling skills, and today was that day.

The room was nothing more than a long hallway, but a little wider than the one they were in before. Torches lit either side of a raised platform that stretched along most of the room with gaps between it and either wall large enough for a person to walk through. A small set of stone stairs lead up to the platform. On the far side of the platform stood the figure of a man carved out of wood. In his hand, he held what looked like a wand.

"What is this?" Hermione asked.

"This is Flitwick's challenge," Jason responded. "This is a dueling arena."


	27. The Moment You Trained For

"A dueling arena?" Hermione asked, pointing at the wooden figure, "you mean we have to fight that thing?"

"Not we," Jason replied, "me ... I have to fight that thing."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course he's sure," Harry spoke up. "Look at him, he's got this ... also he's the only one of us who has any dueling experience. It has to be him."

"Well it seems pretty dangerous," Hermione replied.

"What part of this hasn't been dangerous!" Jason exclaimed. "Giant plants that strangle us? keys that attack us? chess pieces that pummel us? The professors are trying to keep the Stone safe, so of course, the tasks to get there are dangerous."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but closed it without a word.

Signaling for Harry and Hermione to take a place in the gap between the platform and the wall, Jason walked up the steps onto the platform. He continued to walk down the length of the platform until he stood face to face with the wooden figure.

"This is creepy," Jason said as he examined the figure, "it's made of wood, but it looks so life-like, and its eyes and hair actually look real!"

"This is Flitwick we're talking about," Harry said from off the side of the platform, "I'd be disappointed if it wasn't creative."

Jason nodded and took a deep breath. He took his wand in his right hand, standing tall opposite the wooden figure and looking it in the eye, he moved his arm so that his wand was vertically in front of his face. The wooden figure did the same with its wand. Continuing in the protocol for starting a duel that Professor Flitwick had taught him, Jason bowed to the figure and waited as it did the same. Simultaneously, they both stood back up straight and turned to face away from each other. Jason and the figure both then started walking towards the far ends of the wooden platform.

It didn't take long to reach his position, only ten paces, but to Jason, it felt like an eternity. For the first two paces, Jason's mind was racing. Harry and Hermione may have both thoughts that Jason looked calm and confident, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Jason's head was a whirlwind of thoughts, and fears mixed with panic. Yes, he had won two duels, but Silas and Malfoy hardly counted as tough opponents, and the duel with Malfoy wasn't so much a duel as an exchange of threats. The closest Jason had ever come to an actual duel was his practice matches against Flitwick, and he spectacularly lost all of them.

For his third and fourth paces, Jason didn't even know how he was able to walk straight. Flitwick had been holding back in their duels and Jason couldn't beat him, how was he supposed to defeat a guardian that Flitwick made to defend the Stone?

For the fifth and sixth paces, Jason tried to calm himself by going over all the dueling spells he knew. My best spell is the disarming charm, Jason thought to himself, if I can just catch it off guard with Expelliarmus the duel should be over quickly, I can also use Flipendo to knock it off the platform and end the duel, but that would be pretty hard to hit. The reductor curse? That's a pretty powerful spell, but I've never gotten it to work.

For the seventh and eight paces, Jason decided on his plan. I'm gonna hit it fast with Expelliarmus right off the back, if that doesn't work ... then I'll switch to a more defensive stance. I'll use Protego to stop its spells and just look for an opening to hit it with Flipendo.

For the ninth and tenth paces, Jason tried to calm himself and summon the void ... it didn't work.

Finally, Jason turned around to face the wooden figure.

"Expelliarmus!" Jason shouted as soon as the match began, sending his disarming charm straight at the figure.

At first, it looked like the spell would hit the figure, but at the last second, the figure flicked its wand and deflected Jason's spell.

Almost instantly, the wooden figure sent a burst of magic out of its own wand. Jason took a step forward and cast Protego, letting the figure's spell crash into the shield it created.

Jason dropped his shield and tried to strike at the figure with Flipendo, but it cast another spell right behind the first one, causing him to once again use Protego to protect himself.

As soon as the spell crashed against his shield, Jason once again dropped his shield and cast a spell. "Flipendo!" his call was accompanied by a loud bang that sounded when the knockback jinx was cast.

Jason's spell collided in midair by one of the figure's own spells and they were both dispersed.

Realizing that the figure wouldn't give him an opening if he played the long game, Jason switched to a more offensive stance, casting spell after spell as he continued to approach the figure.

The figure also approached Jason, lazily deflecting his spells and retaliating with spells of its own that crashed into Jason's.

When they were within five paces of each other, the figure stopped deflecting Jason's spells, instead, it prevented him from casting with an onslaught of its own spells.

The shield of Jason's protego spell kept him safe from the figure's spell, but as it kept pressing its advantage, Jason's spell began to fade.

Jason gave away ground, as he desperately tried to stop the shield from fading.

Slowly, Jason started to feel more of the impact of each spell the figure cast, causing him to slide back a little bit each time one hit him.

Jason was desperate. He couldn't think of how to turn the duel around, and the figure was starting to cast spells even faster.

Finally, with a loud crack, Jason's shield failed.

He was struck square in the chest by one of the figure's spells, sending him flying into the air with a sharp pain in his chest.

He landed hard on his back at the very edge of the platform. Jason heard a sharp gasp from Hermione as he hit the ground. Looking over to them from his position on the ground, he saw that Harry was shaking watching the duel, and Hermione wasn't even able to watch anymore as she covered her face with her hands. I have to win this, he thought, for them.

As he stumbled to his feet, Jason's mind was going a mile a minute as he tried to think of something ... anything that would let him win the duel. I can't outcast the figure, it's way far too fast for me. Maybe I can slip a spell past its defense if I aim for its legs? No that won't work, it'd see that coming a mile away. Maybe -

Be quiet! A strong voice cut through the storm of thoughts in Jason's mind, completely clearing his head.

It's obvious you can't beat this opponent through skill, time seemed to slow as the voice spoke in his head, so don't. Use strategy instead.

What do you mean? Jason asked the voice.

You can't overpower this opponent the voice replied, so outsmart it! Find something that you can use, but don't panic so much. You'll only defeat yourself if you panic. Calm yourself, imagine a flame and feed all your thoughts and worries to it. Only then, once your mind is clear, will you know what you need to do to win this fight.

The voice went silent.

Taking the voice's advice, Jason imagined a fire burning in his mind. He fed his thoughts to it. His worries about what would happen if he lost the duel, his curiosities about who was actually trying to steal the Stone, his anxiety about wanting to know if Ron was okay or not, and even his deepest insecurities about not being strong enough to help the others that had slowly been eating at him since the duel began.

After the last of his thoughts had burned away, he only felt one thing.

The embrace of the void.

As the void formed around him, Jason noticed a pile of rocks in the corner of the room. He could see vaguely arm and leg like shapes in the pile and realized that it must have been another guardian that the person who came in before them defeated.

With the advice of the voice in his head, and keeping the pile of rocks in mind, Jason came up with a new plan as time seemed to resume to its normal speed.

Jumping up to his feet with new vigor, Jason managed to quickly deflect two spells sent at him by the wooden figure. Knowing he had to act quickly before the figure cast another spell, Jason pointed his wand to the pile of rocks, "LOCOMOTOR" he called out and the rocks began to lift themselves a few feet off the ground. Jason snapped his arm forward to point his wand at the wooden figure and the rocks started throwing themselves at it.

The figure was in the middle of casting a spell of its own, which destroyed the first few rocks, but wasn't enough to stop the rest of the rocks from slamming against it.

As the rocks continued to keep the wooden figure busy, Jason lifted his wand and cast another spell. "REDUCTO!" he shouted out and for the first time, he successfully cast the reductor curse.

Hearing Jason call out a spell, the wooden figure cast the shield charm to protect itself, but that didn't matter. The wooden figure wasn't Jason's target.

The curse hit the final group of rocks that was about to smash into the wooden figure. The rocks exploded into a thick cloud of dust as some not fully exploded rocks were sent flying out in every direction. Jason had taken a gamble in hoping that the figure actually used its eyes to see, but he felt confident that it did, based on how realistic the eyes looked. His gamble paid off, as the dust surrounded the wooden figure, leaving it blind.

Moving as quietly as he could, Jason moved from where he stood on the right side of the platform to the left edge. Once he was in position, Jason cast the locomotion charm under his breath on a small stone that hadn't been completely destroyed. The stone started to hover. Jason pointed his wand at a spot not far from where he had been standing previously. The stone hit the floor with a sound no louder than a footstep, but that was all it took.

A spell came rocketing out of the cloud of dust in the direction of the sound. Following the spell's path, Jason cast his own spell.

"FLIPENDO!" Jason shouted out, aiming his wand at a spot within the cloud of dust. Jason's spell must have caught the wooden figure off guard, as after the spell entered the cloud of dust, the wooden figure came flying out on the other side of it. The figure was launched past the edge of the platform, slamming into a wall before coming to rest on the floor below the platform.

Harry and Hermione both screamed out in joy.

Jason won the duel!


	28. End of the Line

"That was amazing!" Hermione shouted as she and Harry rushed towards Jason.

"I was scared when you got knocked down," Harry said, "but then you turned it around. You did great."

"Thanks, guys," Jason said through a weak simile, as he released the void from around him. "But we're on a schedule so let's not waste too much time celebrating how awesome I am."

Harry and Hermione laughed as they all made their way to the door on the far side of the room. The duel had left Jason exhausted, and he had to lean on Harry and Hermione as they moved on.

"You ready?" Harry asked, looking back and forth between both Jason and Hermione.

"Let's go," Hermione replied, while Jason just nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Harry pushed the door open.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making the three of them pull their robes over their noses. Through watering eyes, they saw, flat on the floor in front of them, a troll even larger than the one from Halloween, out cold with a bloody lump on its head.

"Guess we lucked out on this one," Jason whispered while looking at the troll.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of the troll's massive legs to get to the next door.

Jason pulled open the next door, all three of them were scared to see what came after the troll - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here ... and say this is Snape's challenge," Jason commented, finally being able to walk on his own again. He then quickly and quietly closed the door behind them so they didn't have to worry about the troll waking up.

"What do we do?" Harry asked.

"Not sure yet, but I assume we're just gonna leave this one to Hermione."

Hermione gave Jason an angry look as they stepped over the threshold. Immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same moment, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Jason and Harry looked over her shoulders to read it.

The paper contained a riddle that explained how the challenge would work. There were seven vials, each with a potion. One would let the drinker move forward, one would take them back to the previous room, two of the vials had nettle wine, and three were poisons. The riddle gave different rules for identifying the vials. The rules got a little confusing, but Jason had a general idea of what was going on. Looking over at Harry, he knew that Harry was completely lost.

Hermione on the other hand was smiling.

"Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?" Harry said, sounding depressed.

"Of course not," Jason replied. "I already know what to do."

"Oh, and what's that?" asked Hermione.

"I already told you," Jason smiled. "Leave everything to you."

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned back to the riddle.

"How do we know which to drink?" Harry asked.

"Give me a minute," Hermione replied.

Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands.

"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone."

Jason looked at the bottle. It was tiny.

"There's only enough there for one of us," Harry said. "That's hardly one swallow."

"Who's going through?" Hermione asked.

"I want to see this through," said Harry, "but I don't know how to duel. I think you should go, Jason."

"I understand your reasoning," Jason said after a moment, "but I don't think that's the right choice, I'm exhausted from the duel, and I don't think I'd be able to go on. Whatever is past that door, I'm sure Dumbledore also has a challenge, and I don't think I'd be able to get past it. Besides that though, my gut is telling me that you're the only one who can see this through, Harry."

Harry nodded. "You're right, I can feel it too, it has to be me. Which one will get you guys back through the purple flames?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You guys drink that," said Harry. "Get back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy - go straight to the owlery and send an owl to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

"I've been holding out on this," Jason started, "but I don't think it's Snape who's trying to steal the Stone. I talked with Flitwick about Snape, and he says that Snape has Dumbledore's unshakable trust, whatever is going on here, I don't think Snape is behind it."

"So who do you think it is?" Hermione asked.

"That doesn't matter now," said Harry. "Whoever is behind that door, it's the same plan."

"But Harry - what if You-Know-Who's there?" said Hermione.

"Well - I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Jason and Hermione both gave Harry a hug.

"Harry - you're a great wizard, you know," Hermione encouraged him.

"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, letting them go.

"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!"

"Harry," Jason added, "there's more to you than meets the eye. There's more than anyone sees, even you. You might not be able to believe in yourself right now, but I believe in you. So if you believe in me, then you're believing in yourself and you'll know that you can do this."

"You guys drink first," said Harry. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Positive," she answered.

"Which one are we taking?" Jason asked Hermione.

"This one," she picked up a vial with a round bottle.

Jason took it from her hands. "I'll go first."

He took a drink, draining about a third of the vial. The liquid was freezing and sent a shiver down Jason's spine.

"It's not poison?" Harry asked anxiously.

"No - but it's like ice."

Jason walked to the edge of the fire and looked back at Harry.

"Later," he said with a wave before walking through the purple flames and leaving the room.

Jason waited just inside the room with the troll for a minute until Hermione came through after him. She stood next to him without saying a word, staring back towards the room they just left.

"Let's go, he's counting on us to do our part," Jason grabbed Hermione's hand and led her towards the door to the dueling arena.

Not long later, Jason and Hermione were carrying a still unconscious Ron through the corridors. They had found him lying still where they left him in the chess room and with great effort were able to get him into the key room and onto a broom. They flew through the trapdoor, but in the effort of getting past Fluffy lost the brooms, leaving them to take Ron on foot.

"I can take care of Ron," Hermione said to Jason as they carried Ron towards the owlery. "You should go and send an owl to Dumbledore as fast as you can, I'll start bringing Ron to the Hospital wing, you can catch up to us there."

"Ok," Jason said, leaning Ron onto Hermione's shoulder and starting to run through the corridors.

He almost fell a few times, but Jason reached the owlery in record time. When he burst through the door, he scanned the room and found a piece of parchment, and after a minute of searching a quill and ink. He penned a short message to Dumbledore explaining what had happened and telling Dumbledore that they needed his help.

Once he was done with the message, Jason went to find an owl, but before he got very far, Toc flew over to him.

"Good boy," Jason said as he gave Toc the letter.

Toc hooted before grabbing the letter in his mouth.

"Get this to Dumbledore as fast as you can."

Toc immediately took flight out a window and flew off into the night sky.

Jason found Ron and Hermione not far from the hospital wing. Hermione was having trouble carrying Ron, as he was starting to come back to consciousness and kept fidgeting as she tried to support him.

"I sent the message," Jason told her as he grabbed onto Ron and helped her carry him. "Now, let's get Ron taken care of."

They dragged Ron into the hospital wing and laid him down on a bed. Jason stayed with Ron as Hermione ran to get Madam Pomfrey from her office in the back. Madam Pomfrey tried to send Jason and Hermione back to the Gryffindor common room, but they refused, so she told them to wait outside.

With one last glance at Madam Pomfrey tending to Ron, Jason and Hermione closed the door behind them and sat on the floor.

"He'll be ok, right?" Hermione asked in a weak voice.

"They'll both be," Jason told her, hoping beyond hope that he was right.


	29. End of Term

Jason and Hermione hadn't been sitting outside of the hospital wing for long before they heard footsteps echoing down the corridor. Jason and Hermione both stood up from where they sat when a figure rounded the corner. It was Professor Dumbledore, and cradled in his arms he held an unconscious Harry.

"Is he alright?" Hermione yelled out as soon as she laid eyes on Harry.

"He'll be just fine, Mrs. Granger," Dumbledore said in a calm voice. "After a few days of bed rest, he should be fine."

"Professor -" Jason opened his mouth to speak.

"Rest assured, Mr. Fortescue, I will explain everything in time," Dumbledore interrupted, "but first we must make sure that Mr. Potter is taken care of. Would one of you mind getting the door for me?"

Jason opened the door and then he and Hermione both stepped out of the way as Dumbledore carried Harry into the hospital wing, leaving Jason to close the door behind him.

After about half an hour had passed, Dumbledore exited the hospital wing and asked Jason and Hermione to follow him. Professor Dumbledore led them through the corridors of the school and to the main staircases. When they finally came to a stop they were standing on the seventh floor in front of a doorway blocked by a gargoyle statue. Dumbeldore said a few words to the statue, and the gargoyle moved out of the way, revealing a spiral staircase. At the top of the staircase, Dumbledore opened the door and ushered Jason and Hermione into his office.

Dumbledore's office was fascinating. It was a large and beautiful circular room, full of funny little noises. A collection of curious silver instruments sat atop spindle-legged tables, whirring and emitting little puffs of smoke. The walls were covered with portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses, all of which sat sleeping in their frames. There was a large claw-footed desk towards the back of the room.

"Please take a seat," Dumbledore told them, gesturing towards the front of the desk and causing two chairs to appear in front of it. Jason and Hermione moved slowly across the room and each took a seat. Jason could hear Dumbeldore moving around behind them before he moved to take his seat behind the desk, placing three cups of tea on the desk.

"Help yourselves," he smiled at them. "It's my favorite tea blend, I originally got it as a gift from the Minister of Magic, and ever since then I've always kept some on hand."

"Thank you," they both said, picking up a cup. Hermione took a sip, but Jason didn't drink yet.

"Umm ... Professor, what happened? On the third floor I mean," Jason asked. "Also, how did you get here so fast? I hadn't sent an owl to you more than twenty minutes before you showed up. Also, is the Stone safe? And who was trying to steal it?"

"All great questions," Dumbledore said patiently, "I will answer each in turn. First, I didn't receive your owl. I had barely arrived in London when I realized it wasn't where I should be tonight. I arrived just in time to help Harry. As for the Stone, it was unfortunately destroyed."

"But Professor," Hermione spoke up, "doesn't that mean that Nicolas Flamel and his wife will die, won't they?"

Dumbeldore smiled gently at Hermione and Jason.

"To ones as young as yourselves, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, very long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."

The three of them sat in silence for some time, with Jason and Hermione taking in what Dumbledore had just said as they sipped their tea.

"Wait a minute," Jason said, "you didn't say who it was that was trying to steal the Stone. We know they were trying to steal it for Vol - well, for Voldemort, but who was it? I know it wasn't Professor Snape, so who?"

Dumbledore laughed. "You all were very well informed. You are right, the Stone was to be stolen for Voldemort but not by Severus. It saddens me to say that it was Professor Quirrel who was aiding him."

"Quirrel!" Jason said in shock. "I mean, he's ... he's well, you know."

"Quirinus Quirrell has always been a promising young wizard. It's a shame that in his travels to gain more experience, he was led down a dark path."

Silence fell over them again.

"Would you look at the time," Dumbledore said after a few minutes, "It's rather late, and the two of you have had a long night. Finish your tea and then off to bed with you."

By the time Ron was released from the hospital wing the next afternoon, covered in bruises and with a broken arm, the entire school knew about what happened. It was a complete reversal of how they were treated after Harry and Hermione had gotten in trouble. They could hardly walk around the school without people trying to talk to them. It was nice to not have everyone avoiding them anymore but it was getting a little out of hand, and Fred and George weren't making it any better. Every time Jason saw them, the two Weasleys were loudly recounting the events from the third floor.

The next few days went by in a blur, as Jason, Hermione, and Ron spent their time trying to avoid crowds and worrying about Harry, who despite Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore's assurances that he would soon, still hadn't woken up. During this time, Gryffindor's final Quidditch match of the year was held against Ravenclaw. Despite their best efforts, without a seeker, Ravenclaw won.

On the third day after the events on the third floor, they finally heard the news that Harry had woken up.

Harry laid up in one of the beds and flashed them a weak smile when they entered.

"Harry!" Hermione yelled, looking like she was about to fling her arms around him.

"Oh, Harry, we were sure you were -" she began, "you were going to - We were so worried -"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "what really happened?"

Harry told them how he found Quirrel when he passed through the final door. He told them how the final task was the Mirror of Erised. The worst part was when he told them what was under Quirrel's turban. How Quirrel was sharing his body with Voldemort.

Growing up on stories of how his parents took part in the war against Voldemort left Jason, unlike most others, not afraid of the dark wizard, but the knowledge that he had been in Hogwarts all along, sharing a body with one of their professors sent chills down his spine.

Harry also told them how Quirrel wasn't able to touch him. How it was because Harry's mom died to protect him, leaving him with a powerful magic defense.

After Harry finished his story, Madam Pomfrey came over and kicked them out so that Harry could rest.

The end of the year feast was the next day. The great hall was decked out in the Slytherin colors of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning of the House Cup for the seventh year in a row. The wall behind the High Table was covered in a huge banner displaying the Slytherin serpent.

The only students in the Great Hall that were in high spirits were the Slytherins, except for Quinn, who had the unfortunate pleasure of being seated near Malfoy and his crew as they continuously picked on him. Jason tried to cheer up Ron and Hermione, but they kept staring at the entrance to the Great Hall in hopes that Harry would show.

Harry finally showed about halfway through the feast, bringing the buzz of conversation to an end. Harry barred the silence as he awkwardly made his way to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Ron. Everyone started talking loudly at once, with some people standing up to look at Harry, but that didn't last long, as Dumbledore arrived moments later, killing off the babble.

"Another year gone!" Dumbledore said cheerfully. "And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before you turn your attention back to your plates. What a year it has been! Hopefully, your heads are a little fuller than they were ... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts ...

"Now, as I understand it, the House Cup here needs awarding, and the points stand with Slytherin in first place with four hundred and seventy-two."

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table.

"Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes ...

"First - to Mr. Ronald Weasley ... for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

The Gryffindor's cheers filled the hall, and above it, all could be heard Percy bragging about Ron benign his brother. Ron's face went as red as his hair.

Eventually, silence filled the room again.

"Second - to Miss Hermione Granger ... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Jason was pretty sure she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves - they were a hundred points up.

"Third - to Mr. Jason Fortescue ... for one of the greatest duels to grace these hallowed halls in generations, I award Gryffindor House fifty points."

The Gryffindor's cheers once again filled the hall. Looking up at the High Table, Jason saw Professor Flitwick give him a thumbs up and a smile.

"Fourth - to Mr. Harry Potter ... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor House sixty points."

The cheers were deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor was now tied with Slytherin.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I, therefore, award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

The cheers sounded like an explosion, as Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws joined in on the celebration at Slytherin's downfall, leaving only the Slytherin's quiet. Once again, Quinn was the exception as he cheered and laughed at the horrified look on Malfoy's face.

"I believe," Dumbledore called out, "that a little change of decoration is in order."

With the clap of his hands, all the Slytherin green and silver was replaced with Gryffindor scarlet and gold; the huge Slytherin serpent was replaced with a towering Gryffindor lion.

The next day, their trunks were packed; the professors passed out notes warning them not to use magic over the holidays; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross station.

Jason said goodbye to Frederick, Harper, and Quinn before leaving platform nine and three-quarters for King's Cross proper with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. On the other side of the barrier, stood Grandpa Richard. After quickly introducing his friends to his Grandpa, Jason wished them a good summer and said his goodbyes before leaving the station with Grandpa Richard.

"How was your first year?" Grandpa Richard asked Jason as they left the station.

"It was ... it was perfect."


End file.
